naruto to be Fett
by selftaughtidiot
Summary: a young AU naruto decides to have a goal different than being hokage this is his journey to the elite title of Fett Star wars AU kinda is sucky title
1. dream

disclaimer: i in no way own the property rights of Naruto, star wars or any other content mentioned in this fanfic.

This story was originally inspired and was going to be based on the ideas of an iron man naruto i have no idea how i ended up in an AU based on the star wars universe but it turned out pretty good anyway

1). I'm sorry naruto i know your place is being vandalised but theres not much i can do i can't have a ninja hired to look after your apartment all day it would cost the village to much and i doubt its a civilian as their are seals to prevent that you live in a shinobi only area of the city any ninja would notice the guard there's nothing i can think to do unless you want to move" naruto didn't want to move no matter what the Hokage said the apartment block was his home he wouldn't give it up because of some asshole if he couldn't get help he'd capture this guy himself he decided to lay a trap he had been going to the academy for six months now and just this week had finally mastered Henge which was a relief as although his food was delivered like all orphans he could now get equipment and clothes easier he didn't know why the vilagers hated him but knew it wasn't his fault he suspected his family were nuke nin that was the only thing in his mind that made sense he changed into a brown haired boy without whiskers and bought some paralysis powder turned off the apartment power at the breakers then pried a plug cover off with a kunai the carpet was soaked from where the spigot had been knocked off and the lock broken the trap was set so when the door closed next the power would turn back on shocking the intruder and a full packet of paralysis powder circulated round the room the best traps used what was already there. he got home to find it worked the guy was indeed shinobi he had green hair and eyes he put some more powder in the guys nose then set off the seal for emergencies. the hokage shushined in ready for battle with his two ANBU guards needless to say the three were very suprised and impressed with his traps and plan the Hokage complimented him for it "that trap was a very good one you almost show the potential to be as good as a Fett i'd say" chuckling as he said it "what's a Fett?" "a Fett is an old term that used to describe a Lone Elite capture ninja the term was first coined by the extinct trackers from the mandalore clan aggressive warriors masters of the fighting arts and stealth and several other fields able to kill entire platoons of ninja without being noticed the geniuses of warfare and strategy yet had no Chakra in the end that was their undoing they were attacked in their homes with katon and Jutsu and drowned in an earhten bowl with Suiton" Naruto didn't know whether to horrified for their deaths or awed! at their skill and jiji said he was like them and that he had potential he decided right there that was the type of Shinobi he'd be master of all weak in none feared and respected but different he'd use Chakra as well and when older bring back a clan like the Mandalorians.


	2. becoming

see previous disclaimer in chapter 1.

the next day was a saturday glad that his apartment wasn't going to be attacked anymore he went to the library they weren't judgemental there, naruto had the feeling the woman didn't like him or dislike him she was just apathetic he often spent time there as noone would play with him it helped some as he learnt to write early on the history book of clans said the reason mandalorians never used chakra was it meant they could never be detected by other shinobi but instead mimicked the act of chakra through advanced devices like flame throwers instead of katon, chemical based incendaries instead of Tags spiked boots and grappling hooks for roof hopping not as efficient or controlled but still damn impressive he was going to take it a step further though with most ninja chakra was indeed a beacon unless tightly controlled but for naruto it was something he was always able to do almost instinctually he could also find othersby theirs he didn't know why only that he could as his ANBU guards that used to follow him could attest when he waved to them as he walked by it damn embarrasing to them.

All members of the Mandalore clan were required to learn how to proficiently use two weapons in this order one pole axe based one close bladed weapon this was great for naruto the teachers didn't like him he knew that when he asked a question there were two different responses he was either ignored or scolded by using a weapon to fight he didn't have to learn from people who weren't teaching him anyway and didn't have to use the basic flawed academy jutsu that any capable fighter could counter with ease.

another two specialist fields were required to achieve Hunter status in the Mandalore clan examples were Poisons, Traps, or Silent Assasination. To achieve the title Fett he would need to master all those skill sets master two more weapons add another field and lastly but not least capture an S - class Nuke Nin by themselves this was what led to their downfall as one of their members forty years ago tried to cpature an S - class rogue of the Yamanaka who'd gone insane somehow without anyones notice till it was too late leading to the clan's great deminishment the yamanaka's only had about twenty five members now only seven of which were active ninja after destroying the Mandalore clan he gathered a cabal of bandits to take over the land of Whirlpool he failed but used a suicide Jutsu to wipe out the Capital buildings that housed the Daimyo and his family the island based country soon fell to economic crises and was absolved into another part of Kiri. naruto after reading all this now knew it would be hard work to become a Fett it would take years and many people would doubt his ability to do so but his eyes strayed back to the image and description in the book of one of the best members of the Mandalore clan who reached Fett and two years later Clan Head Candorous of the Mandalore clan killer of Dragons slaughterer of the canabalistic people who inhabited the dunes of Suna the picture showed a tall guy in heavy green armor on a spear in one hand a skull hanging half way down it on a small hook and a helmet under the other with a T - shaped visor on it he looked proud imposing but not arrogant like most of the clans of Konoha who seemed to think a name meant power it was the scars that showed this man earned his name including a particularly large one across his right eye naruto would be like him someone who earned their name he wouldn't stay trash he would be better.

It took naruto three weeks to arrange everything and be practiced enough before naruto felt comfortable enough to show his new changes first his weapon a naginata a two foot length solid staff that wouldn't vibrate when struck it had a sword attatched to one end and a small circular weight the other that could be used to bludgeon as a mace and to give momentum when quickly changing the direction of his swing it was bargain basement like all weapons for civillians which he still was till graduation but it was in good condition something all the shops made sure of selling rusted or defectively fragile weapons and armor in a ninja village was a way to lose your buissness to banktrupcy. he used a derelict training ground and learned from a library book he copied to his own scroll for revision the form movements were of a heavily offensive and speed based style that seemed to suit him with his high end stamina the defense was weak but that's why dodging was emphasised. he added a light mesh underarmor to get used to a heavier weight when he eventually got the armor he wanted the last change he made was small but effective one the style he chose used all parts of the body including knee caps elbows and feet it was it of a brawler style but suited him fine so the open toed sandals were replaced with steel toe capped boots he was now ready to show a new better naruto uzumaki to the world.


	3. proving

See previous disclaimer in chapter 1.

ACADEMY- -

it was a Monday and today would be the first time he brought his weapon to school noone had yet noticed the mesh armor under his jacket and the boots were disregarded as insignificant an added advantage he learned when finding out the rules of weaponry in the class using his students handbook was that he wasn't required to use the academy taijutsu style it was flawed due to its basic movements but easy to teach to a large group of children by practicing his own style he would be treated like a member of one of konoha's clans and be graded on efficiency against his opponent not flaw of movement and as it was similar to clan style law he could teach himself preventing the teachers who seemed to be ignoring him all the time from stunting his combat growth.

As naruto opened the door to the classroom which was already full of all the students but void of the chunnin instructors Iruka and Mizuki the first comments first comment came from Kiba Inuzuka "ha Dobe you think a weapon's gonna help you still be the worst" The second came from sakura and stung a little bit more. "Yeah Baka you'll never be as cool as sasuke-kun!" Kiba was expected he was a snob who reckoned only Clan children were worthy of being Shinobi and so had a hatred against naruto for having scores close to his own the second stung as Sakura once was his friend before the Academy changing her attitude and abandoning him once she found new friends the laughing of the rest of the class didn't help either but he just took a deep breath and reaffirmed his personal promise to himself one he woild never break he'd prove them wrong and show them he wasn't the dobe.

Iruka walked in Mizuki trailing behind and used his big head jutsu "QUIET!" saw naruto's new weapon knowing it was allowed got the class started on history as if nothing happened. At break everyone went out but himself wanting to focus on book he got on home grown poisons, antidotes, and their uses, Iruka saw this and approached "why the change naruto you never normally sit and read" "trying to better is all don't want to be the dobe anymore" he hated that word it meant trash he would be more but if he told someone his goals to be a Fett they would laugh so only those he trusted to listen would know of it. Iruka just mentally shrugged it off he understood from his time in the Academy when everyone called him the fool kids laughed at him not with him he changed his own attitude to more serious but still open and friendly manner something most ninja lost by the time the reached chunnin rank he assessed the naginata for a moment and could see an accident happen in the near future he could correct now with a few words. "you should really get a hand guard or gauntlets you know he said pointing to pole vaulted weapon naruto seemed to consider it "if you don't your fingers could get crushed when you roll or a weapon hits them that would incapacitate you from doing jutsu." naruto winced and replied "i'll definately get some gauntlets then" "you'll have to adjust your attacks a bit because of restriction of movement remember" said on a note the rest of the class charged in and lessons for the afternoon began. two months later naruto had got his red chunky gauntlets and was from last like everything in class two about mid way in taijutsu Kiba kept trying to prove himself better and now had a bitter rivalry with him and kept challenging him whenever possible. his private plant garden for poison's was growing nicely and was ready for cultivation he used the gauntlets and was trying to cobble together a retractable wrist blade for one of them by using a kunai but it kept jamming the springs and gears or wouldn't line up with the tray he could ask for help but wanted to prove it was his work he still hadn't made any true friends yet but they left him alone now he was able to fight back better than they could in the ring now the Hokage said during one of his regular visits he was real proud and he only had to improve his class grades now and he'd soon be a shinobi of the leaf that was hard for him he hated exams today they were starting kawamiri and were told to practice over the three month holidays coming up along with the already done henge to perfect appearance that jutsu was down solid for him it had to be with all the use it got with his shopping he felt comfortable now with his naginata and wanted to introduce another weapon over the break he chose a less cumbersome weapon a kyoketsu shoge so that he could eventually atatch it to his naginata and make a kind of hybrid weapon kusarigama but were to place the staff he'd say storage seal but that'd be stupid in battle on his back might restict movement so maybe retactable it'd have to be a good locking system he didn't want a weapon that'd unexpectedly collapse or come apart he would think on it for now it didn't matter it was an unfixed plan for the future for now he would aim to acieve second stage weapon proficiency complete his asassins blade and learn to use the kawamiri.


	4. 12 weeks part 1

See previous disclaimer in chapter 1.

Naruto soon realised the problem of using a kyoketsu shoge with the rope tricks required to fully master it he'd need experienced help or he'd kill himself thee instuction book was in the qualified shinobi section as it was classed as an advanced weapon he did what he always did when he needed advice he went to the Hokage "well well well i could give you permission for that book but it's an advanced weapon as i'm sure you've realised for a reason so i wont" naruto was about to reply he needed it when the sandaime continued speaking "however i know someone will teach you i talked to him about you and he is willing to help his daughter Ten Ten is in the year above you and wants to learn thrown weapons specialty most but needs a sparring partner her size and age to improve this also means as a return to the favour you help Higurashi clean at end of day." this was perfect deal for everyone naruto got a teacher and partner with similar interests Higurashi got a shop boy and the sandaime knew naruto wouldn't go back to his old habits of when being bored growing up decided to prank the stuffy Clan people as he said it. Sarutobi still had nightmares abou the paperwork generated from the time he replaced dog shampoo with a purple dye it was luck they found out at the vets when washing a civillian dog noone could prove it was him or how he did it without leaving a scent but the wide grin the day before told him it somehow was.

Higurashi weapons was a large surplus store it sold everthing Uniforms, Tags, Scrolls, and most Bladed weaponry he'd wanted to go here for a while but the high quality meant high prices over his personal budget maybe when he was properly earning but not yet he had about ten minutes before the place was due open and had to introduce himself he hoped it went right finding an actual weapon master willing to teach him was a boon he could not pass up on the door opened and a large man came out with bulging muscles and a Hiate on with two lines either side signifying retired from duty each line representing five years service he saw why and tried not to stare he had a prosthetic leg from the lower leg downwards. "Ah! you must be Naruto Sandaime told me you were coming in today you should have knocked it wouldn't matter well go through Ten Ten is out back practicing her accuracy with throwing weapons." Naruto did glancing around as he walked through the shop had spaced out aisles with racks of weaponry by type each polished finely for display and boxes with the word tags and a number by the till the back door was open and led out to a range with logs for strikes by blades and a throwing weapon range of five metres where a girl in a pink silk shirt was throwing weapons and seemingly jumping and simulating how to dodge at the same time by rolling as she landed using kunai all grouped together at vital points on a dummy target drawing she was either ignoring him or didn't notice his prescence. "Ten Ten Cease!" shouted dustin from the doorway she stopped and turned around with a scowl on her face obviously she had been ignoring him. "Hi I'm naruto uzumaki pleased to meet you" said with a smile and outstretched hand she looked at it and shook hard "Ten Ten Higurashi likewise look you better be quick to learn i don't want to baby you through but dad says if i wanna get my weapons mistress Title i've got to be able to explain how to use a weapon from basics to proficiency level one mastery i've got one year to graduation got my basic three down already i prefer throwing weapons but can use swords, most pole based weapons exploding tags senbon and a kurisigama scythe what about you?" "Oh thats great i actually want help with Kyoketsu Shoge' so scythe training should help before you say use a scythe it's actually gonna be my second weapon i'm learning so needs to be easy to carry when i use a modified Naginata with Gauntlets i know Henge and am trying to learn quick use of kawamiri over the holidays" "Ten Ten was impressed few gennin tried to learn more than weapon relying on the multi pupose kunai fewer still would think to mention the gauntlets which change the teaching method a little but significant bit "have you got the gauntlets on you?" naruto pulled out his gauntlets from a small waist hanging bag and the sheeved with a wood block kyoketsu shoge from another she noticed two sliding rails bolted two one of the gauntlets with a small lock on the end "what goes there?" "that's something i'm working on a retractable wrist blade that can be removed" "we sell those here for about seven hundred ryo" "yeah but i wanna make my own its important to my skills" "it's just stupid a craftsman would do a better job" "maybe but my specialisation demands i earn better weapons myself by mastering and making new ones i'm gonna copy the mandalore clan and try to earn the equivilent title Fett" "the what?" he told her she was impressed still in the academy and had a chosen field she could tell teaching him was going to be fun but noticed either a crucial flaw in his plan or something he forgot to mention in his introduction. "you do realise the best capture ninja use senbon to paralyse right?" he didn't it's not like the skills of ANBU were publicised widely she promised to help him with his anatomy and throwing accuracy. she intended to look up these Mandalore clan they sounded interesting she'd never heard of a weapons based clan maybe a lineage or two but they were soon targeted by enemy villages the closest thing would be ANBU which was her own eventual goal for the prestige and proof of title only one in twenty kunoichi achieved it. "Alright lets start your lesson first carrying and handling safely." -------

It had been three weeks of hell since naruto had started training with Ten Ten she taught him much more than first planned her training was vigorous starting five in the morning and finishing at about seven she taught him how to counter most attacks with both standard and makeshift weaponry like chair legs broom handles and unbalanced kitchen knives. He was learning all the dirty tricks of his chosen weapon the Kyoketsu Shoge' making full use of the coiled rope attatched and the hacking side blade he'd been taught more advanced manouvers for his Naginata like the reverse thrust were he stuck the staff end in the soil then pushed offf kicking his opponent in a way that could easily be adjusted to sweep or a firm plant thrusting the blade unexpectedly forward as a reward for learning that he was taught the chakra control exercise that allowed him to stick to any solid surface actually being taught that was discouraged till after graduation to keep the shinobi secrets discouraged but not illegal.

He swept the store in the evenings and sharpened blades brought in for repair. Ten Ten was obsessed with weaponry of all forms and perfecting her accuracy she also had a temper whenever anyone said anything bad about Tsunade he had to run around the yard for half an hour with her chucking weapon's at him when he said Yondaime was better with his yellow flash than her super strength he still felt the bruises from the dulled blades that sliced the top layer of his skin from his cheek lucky he never scarred.

This week was going to be the planned anatomy lessons for use of senbon he still felt stupid for not knowing most capture ninja used them she told him these lessons would be boring but useful if you want to hurt someone to the maximum effective amount she was right it was a boring yet useful subject there were five books to learn from which had many longwinded paragraphs that could be summarised into hit here to do this not that Ten Ten would of let him do that as she hated when a person didn't have all the information about a chosen subject or the info was incorrect faulty mission info was what led to her father being overpowered and losing his leg on what was meant to be a simple C - Rank mission. So Ten Ten was always thorough in her lessons the good thing was he now knew how to put a person down with a needle and knew never to attempt to have a fist fight with a Hyuuga.

this week they were moving onto tags and throwing weapons or so he thought whenever he asked Ten Ten would just say exploding death and cackle for a while. It turned out they weren't just learning how to use tags but to make them as well as basic storage seals the basic skill was easy to learn just copy a template and add blood to your ink understanding how it worked was difficult but had many uses as their were Jutsu with the unidentified seal on his stomach noone would tell him answers about he intended to make it one of his skills so bought a theory book on it. His small poison garden was coming along great it actually filled one room now he'd soon be self sufficient if he started making antidotes not that he needed them himself with his weird healing factor but if he hit a team mate he'd feel guilty without five was an unexpected lesson

"Now naruto with my graduating this year i have to show use of the basic three you got two down and got basic chakra control through tree walking now i'm going to show you the bunshin now although i know only the illusory basic there are several types of elemental and dad says one special called shadow clone that only the leaf know how to use but its a kinjutsu only for jonin rank ninja the types of clone and their uses are earth which is used for heavy offense their slow but can take more hits and attacks from fire, wind, and clones are used for speedy hits and distraction but is weaker against all four other elements the last non bloodline based clone other than the kinjutsu one is mud which obviously uses a mould of the two so is weaker than earth but slower than water with added advantage of being a sticky glob when it falls apart so is good for capture an something you should look up if you can. the upside is if you have better chakra control or more chakra it means more speed or strength with any of the clones in order to use them you send a constant mental pulse to it so if you haven't got a line of sight it stops moving so when you see clones know that the caster will always be nearby." Ten Ten took a breath after her long spiel. "Now back to the basic illusory is good for learning Genjutsu so once you learnt it you just make the field bigger slowly increasing it till its all around you then projecting seals help flood the area with your chakra and attatch it to objects making it harder to dispell theoretically with enough chakra you wouldn't need seals with genjutsu but only kage's and sannin with perfect control are that strong which is said why Tsunade's illusion works she coats herself in her own chakra all the time increasing her control and reserve as she does it because its a weird chakra exercise although a seal would be needed to reintroduce the chakra into her tenkutsu so she doesn't exhaust herself which no one can figure out so only medical person like herself would know how." she took another long breath in her mini rant lecture. "So what you do to start learning clones is perform the ram seal" she showed him "focus it on your whole body like henge then imagine it remember now the second part is sending the clone elsewhere without the chakra overloading so you need a constant amount no fluctuating too much then contain the chakra solid on the outside by adding more on the edges this is done with the stabilise seal or rat seal as its called then you kawmiri the chakra making sure when it is you send that mental pulse remember they have to be seen by you when you form them or they'll come out dead looking in random positions oh and keep streaming the chakra an even amount so it doesn't run out and dissapear as it evaporates the shell will hold itself". it took three full nights of practice in his apartment but he got it he was glad only week five of twelve and he'd accomplished so much as a prize to Ten Ten for teaching him a jutsu and prize to himself doing so well Dustin brought out a pool and taught water walking they both got it by friday evening but it wasn''t instinctual yet which was how you called it mastered but he didn't care he hadn't even started his second year and had mastered three jutsu only clan kids could say that and they had early extra instruction.


	5. 12 weeks part 2

See previous disclaimer in chapter 1.

Both Ten Ten and naruto were nervous it had been forty five days since they began their lessons and today naruto was going to be tested on what he learnt by sparring against a chunin called Izumo if he could prove proficiency in use of his kyoketsu shoge/rope knife Ten Ten's hard work would of paid off and she could call herself a Weapon Mistress instead of just another user like most shinobi with that title on her file before graduation she could get apprenticeship when she reached genin under Dustin's old team mate uzuki yuggao instead of waiting to reach Chunnin naruto proved himself in sparring and afterwards answering several unexpected to him questions on safety and tricks and attacks possible through rope combination that night the three celebrated yuggao would have come but she was on mission duty and Izumo was primarily a guard with kotetsu apparently they were both jounin ANBU in skill but not duties as the gates were high priority long term B - Rank mission with the chance to go home at end of shift unlike border patrol where they had a small cabin with three people to talk to on eight month tours of duty naruto was seriously thinking of using the extra time he now had to try and teach a skill to one of his classmates apprenticeship was nothing worth sneezing at but who? and what?

WEEK SEVEN----------

Ten Ten and her father were away for the week there was a festival going on in tanzaku and as this was the last holiday before Ten Ten became an active ninja Dustin intended to spoil her rotten naruto felt out of sorts without some kind of routine to follow he still did his exercises and kata's monitered the growth of his poisons which were nearly ready for cultivating but felt the need for something to do he'd gotten a basic understanding of seals but the one on his gut was still beyond his understanding and the information the book gave out to learn more than he had would need the ninja archives which he couldn't get till he reached gennin on the upside he could now create chakra suppressors something that he'd wanted for a while they would be essential for his arsenal as a capture ninja the design was complicated redirecting any chakra that left the body to enter another tenketsu nearby totally negating all jutsu he believed that Tsunade's seal probably did something similar but more advanced he made seven a night and intended to sell the excess to Dustin he doubted he'd ever need more than twelve for personal use.

on the Wednesday he finally finished his wrist blade it could be extended by crushing his hand into a fist inserting the fingers into individual slots in the middle of the palm he felt satisfaction another step had been achieved that night in naruto's eyes another step to his dream now he just had to learn how to use the damn thing.'

WEEK EIGHT---------

"Naruto i've been thinking you have two short and one mid range weapon now your retactable blade is done so you should start on a long range you can throw weapons like anyone else to an acceptable standard" "i have an eighty two percent hit rate!" "Yeah like i said acceptable to me anything below ninety is acceptable i am a Weapons Mistress after all." She kept mentioning that in most conversations now in the tone of voice as if she'd been one for years and had classes of students who'd made jonin and ANBU he was ready to hit her for it. "you said once you were ready for the weight you want to get armour we can get you an arm mounted senbon launcher to start it'd go well with the gauntlets and maybe some spiked shin guards we could get your Taijutsu more fluid i know i've got nothing else to do over the summer have you?"

so they did it was harder to aim the senbon launcher but had more speed than himself it didn't matter to him every extra weapon was another ace to use but he'd have to come up with some ideas of his own that was the point of the Mandalore clan Ingenuity, Adaptability, and proving your own worth but he'd still use her ideas they were good ones.

naruto had three weeks till he had to return to the academy and finally come up with his own project without help an idea based offf of Ten Ten's rant on clones this idea was a useful difficult, and if completed impressive as hell he intended to learn how to do Genjutsu without seals in her rant Ten Ten said only someone with or near kage level chakra could do this and although she didn't realise it naruto had that most people thought he had large reserves for a gennin they didn't realise he was constantly suppressing his chakra instinctually to naruto it was weird people didn;t know how to do it to him releasing control of his chakra was like flexing a muscle or moving a limb you told your body to do it and it did always been able to find his ANBU guards by Chakra and pull in his own till they couldn't detect him so he knew he wasn't Kage level but close not that meant much he was fast but only to another genin same with strength he only had three Jutsu but if that theory about GenJutsu was correct he would be potentially unlimited. the first exercise he came up with was a simple one expansion of his chakra field he Henge'd into larger and larger people eventually stopping a seven foot tall version of himself grown to Akamichi proportions at which point he started to lose focus and the illusion started to blur he got no further than that in the remaining three weeks of vacation time this would indeed be a long term project but that didn't matter to him if it took years he had time especially since most academy students spent their time reviewing their basic three and increasing they're chakra reserves something he didn't have to do.


	6. back to school yr 2

See previous disclaimer in chapter 1.

Academy ---

Naruto watched silently with his naganita lying on the floor at his feet as all the students walked through the door he was in the top corner of the room he came in extra early trying to evaluate who would be best to teach a weapon skill to. Students always had to arrive half an hour earlier than the teacher it was meant to give patience he'd like to teach one of the children not from a Clan but knew they were more hostile because of they're parents so that narrowed it down it couldn't be Hinata as Hyuuga were all about Taijutsu and they're family form not Ino she was spoiled terrible idea for a student who wouldn't listen to him Kiba would be too proud the two uchiha's of the class sasuke and deidara would just learn it when and if they're sharingan activates that left shino, shikamaru, and choji it could actually go better with three students Nara's were geniuses known fact even if they were lazy the forms would easily be memorized by him Choji would benefit most from a weapon as his family style slowed him down the Akamichi were meant for battlefields not speed he was also the classes new target since he himself improved the students were careful never to call him fat to his face just whispering and pointing at him he only had one friend in Shikamaru Ino sometimes hung out with them but only because their fathers made them the original Ino-Shika-Cho trio were legendary and the fathers were trying to make a comraderie that wasn't there Ino respected noone but her Sasuke not even her oldest friend Sakura so that meant he couldn't teach them if he was the one blamed for messing up that trio the troubles caused. Oh well maybe he could try to make them friends on the side so that left Shino he had decent skill in Taijutsu like himself last year introduced himself last year saying he had one colony of kikai which were chakra eating bugs and his goals to find more types yet to be discovered for his clan people left the Aburame alone never pick on a person that had friends by the million so everyone just avoided him well now how to introduce himself he decided he'd wait till break that seemed best ah here comes Iruka wonder where Mizuki is? "Quiet class i said quiet! QUIET!" instant silence "thats better its good to see you all this term no drop outs i can see hope you all had a good summer now unfortunatley Mizuki had to get transferrred to a new deparment over the summer so we'll have a new assistant named Genjutsu mistress Kurenai this will be good for the girls who will be beginning an extra course called kunoichi instruction during which time the boys will do extra Taijutsu practice and also help those who need a litlle help with the already done henge refinement and later in the year use of bunshin."

this was great an oppurtunity he lacked and needed had fallen into his lap he only hoped this kurenai woman wasn;t hostile to him if so he could learn from her some tips like how to make chakra fool the senses sight was obvious but taste smell no idea

maybe he cold learn some actual Genjutsu through seals then focus on doing the same without.

Now class were going to start the day by seeing how well you did on your kawamiri practice if your not comfortable doing the exercise i'll talk to you later now i'm going to put this log here" he dragged one out from under the desk and put it on the floor "and one by one your going to kawamiri with it twice! once from your seat and once from this spot to your chair i will grade you on speed of use and how tired you are after doing the Jutsu if you all practiced enough you shouldn't be that tired at all as practice would build up your chakra reserves so i'll know if you didn't Naruto your furthest back you first then down to the next row left to right then next row again"

"Oi dobe you ready to fail!?" "i'm not a dobe kiba!" said with a growl in his voice he switched places with the log twice without slowing down or looking tired the rest of class soon followed Kiba, Sasuke, and Shino were the only ones who did it with that much speed as him Sakura, Konan, and Hidan were the only ones tired enough to be scolded Konan and Sakura were big time fangirls Hidan was just an idiot the only reason he got as far as he did was preferential treatment his father was a Konoha council member who threatened to pull his buissiness from Konoha if Hidan failed the academy Hidan with his reckless attitude would probably be dead within a month of graduation. Ino probably would of been as bad as those three if she didn't have her clan pushing her to practice at certain times clan prestige would be damaged if she failed something that simple all three who failed were from civillian families time for break lets see shino.

in the classroom ---

Iruka watched as the last of the kids left for their break he let them out early as the Chakra they used would make them tired and give them bad concentration better to let them out early he shuffled the grading papers and put them in his tray for reports to the tower at end of day then sat down and seemed to ask to thin air "what did you think of them? kurenai appeared as she dispelled the genjutsu she had unlocked the classroom that day and had been watching the class to evaluate them she took the job as Mizuki had tried to steal the Raijin/thunder sword of the second Hokage and the Forbidden scroll apparently he'd been contacted by the traitorous Sannin Orochimaru he was caught before he left the tower idiot! '

"uzumaki's an interesting one he seemed the only one truly interested when you mentioned my coming here he doesn't seem like the natural Genjutsu type with his chakra amounts there'd be no control at all which is a pity as very few people take an actual interest in my art" she twirled a piece of chalk between her fingers "a lot of fighting between two girls though?" "you mean Ino and Sakura' yes thats common nothing will stop it they both want Sasuke which is stupid i don't have the heart to tell them the Uchiha are isolationist who mostly marry into their own clan especially the second son of the head as for Naruto i'm not surprised he's very determined to be the best from the psych report with the way he grew up he'll always be a bit over focused on his studies as a distraction i hear the Hokage sent him along over the summer to be mentored by Dustin Higurashi"

"what else can you tell me about him?" Iruka knew this was coming everyone wanted to know about the young Jinchiriku no matter what they felt about him he was an oddity the power of the mightiest of Bijju had never been sealed before.

"he seems like any other academy student doesn't really stand out at all in the first few months he was failing last so the kids started to bully him he had no friends it wasn't serious just kids being kids then one day he came in after an incident you know the one with Aoi Rokusho getting captured for vandalism sending him to border patrol indefinately" Kurenai nods everyone heard and was stunned in the Jonin lounge when that news got around Aoi was known for his easy going nature it was totally off character. his being captured although surprising wasn't totally off mark noone would think a kid would make such a trap or prepare for it he was just a kid after all. "Well a week after that he came in with a pole based weapon started doing quite good in spars and improved everywhere else they still call him Dobe it annoys him and they know it he and Kiba don't get along so never group them from what i saw earler on his belt he's also taken up a rope knife i'm sorry to say i don't know much Mizuki taught Taijutsu i stood to the side and kept order and in the class this size i only get to know a child if they approach me he sometimes stays in class and reads a book or under the tree the most i talked to him was to suggest gauntlets i try to be kind to him because of his burden and how the other adults are but he's quiet again not much to say sorry"

"it's okay it was just passing curiosity you know i still remember the day the fox was sealed i ever felt such terror" she shivered "i just hope it's gone for good i never felt so hopless since then but i don't blame him you know such power couldn't have intelligence thats what made it so bad it was an unstoppable force primal i don't blame him i just wanted to know that's all oh i don't know Iruka it's going to be weird being in the same room as him i won't hate him i' promised myself that but i don't know how i'll approach him without puking silly i know" "not really i took two weeks before first term preparing to teach him my parents were killed by the kyuubi but in the end i just follow the Yondaime's wish how can i not"

the bell rang signifying end of break.

MEANWHILE IN PLAYGROUND-----

Shino Aburame sat with his high collared trenchcoat on he was by himself like always under a tree observing a bug on his fingers and the instructors were watching everyone else good easy to approach

"hey shino can i talk to you for a minute about something" "hello Uzumaki yes you can talk to me" said in the normal Aburame monotone "i was wondering can if i teach you a weapon style like mine over the year?" "why?" "well i want to get weapons master certification so i need to show i can teach someone from basics to proficiency before graduation i can possibly get apprenticeship and it'd give us both something to do during break time as people leave us alone all the time and you can have an advantage when you graduate." Knowing the best thing to say now to get him to say yes "if you have a weapon you know you could defend yourself and your colony better from weapons." "I accept your proposal i would like to learn how to use a kama (small sickle) as it is easily concealable and a good weapons countermeasure i would ask my clan to help but my family like most clans discourages weaponry being added to our style and i would need a practice partner for best results" Naruto was glad

the main portion of his training would come in handy here but Kama were better used when dual weilded he told Shino as such "very well dual weilded it is i will begin training with you in two days to give you time to register and for myself to get my chosen weapon" he seemed to pause for a second as if contemplating something then continued on "may i ask why you wish so much to have an apprenticeship Gennin teams are just as adequate?" "i want to be apprenticed so i can into ANBU quicker loads of the skills i need for my goal can only be gotten there" "and your goal is what?" "hunter capture ninja and eventually the title Fett which means Elite hunter based off the legends of the Mandalore Clan who i wanna be like Hokage Jiji's exact words to describe them was 'a clan of aggressive warriors masters of the fighting arts and stealth and several other fields able to kill entire platoons of ninja without being noticed the geniuses of warfare and strategy ' the amazing thing was they had no chakra i want to be like them but better i'm already adept at two weapons and learning seals i've mastered the basic three i'm going to be the best and with aprenticeship you get automatic entry to chunnin archive library" "that sounds like a good goal to strive for your skills are impressive i myself am at the moment working on the Tsuchi Bunshin it is the same as the traditional one with bugs hidden under the illusion i am close i am to completion." "good for you i honestly don't know what i'n gonna do for the next two years and i paper tests ah well i'll get the info on dual weilding and get onto that register thing" the bell rang signifying it was time for year two to go back to class the breaks were staggered throughout the day it saddened naruto he'd love to be able to hang out with Ten Ten on a daily basis. naruto never knew he made a good friend in that half hour break rarely did a person see past an Aburame's bugs and they're children often found themselves isolated the upside was the clan was very close knitted Shino would of sat next to naruto but his bugs loved the warmth of the sunshine and the fresh air from the open small window.

in the afternoon class Kurenai properly introduced herself to the class she already knew Hinata who she sometimes watched kuenai was best friends with her mother Mikoto before she died Mikoto was the first non-hyuuga to marry into the clan in three generations she died during childbirth of Hanabi since that time Hiashi had gone cold and preached the traditional ways of the Hyuuga being best and had all but exiled Hinata to the branch clan as hr could not stand the sight of Hinata who shared Mikoto's pale violet eyes the poor girl had confidence issues she expected the worse of everyone only interacting when required she had for the last few months improved in demeanour but kurenai was expecting a break down any day now she hoped to help the girl understand it wasn't her fault for her fathers actions naruto approached kurenai as class ended and as expected asked for genjutsu lessons she told him th truth. "i'm sorry naruto but your not the Genjutsu type ninja you have too much chakra most true Genjutsu users are Kunoichi who have low reserves and high control and Uchiha who use their bloodline" in reply instead of the shouting or downcast look she expected he calmly told her the theory he'd heard of and how he was practicing kurenai knew the theory of chakra layering every high class genjutsu user did but until now it was a myth but with his reserves to naruto My God it was an actual possibility to teach him would be great but she couldn't get her hopes or let his she decided to help by for now setting him some basic challenges that may help she told him this might nort work but this was his best bet to try if he could truly master this skill the boy would be an automatic A- Rank ninja true chakra layering couldn't be dispelled to do it sealess well she hoped this worked she really did.


	7. achieved

see previous disclaimer in chapter 1.

chapter seven

naruto sat in his apartment trying out the new exercise for genjutsu practice with her explanation of genjutsu not being his type naruto thought that Kurenai was like most of the other adult that brshed him off for some secret reason that he didn't know hating him as they met him but he decided this was too good an oppurtunity to miss so explained his idea hoping she just hadn't thought of anyone doing Genjutsu this way. she helped him by showing what she could do with seals and if the theory worked himself without telling if this failed he wouldn't be able to do Genjutsu sealess the Jutsu she showed him and he had to simulate was the transparency jutsu if it worked would make him invisible perfect for his chosen career he followed her instrctions it was actually an advanced form of the Henge but instead of just picturing a new form to be had to imprint wjat was there onto the reverse side of his body he started as asked with a single finger he would get this.

it'd been three weeks since naruto approached kurenai he made no effort to see her or ask advice she expected he'd given up like most people who first tried Genjutsu patience and determination were required for her chosen field she'd seen him in the playground sparring with the Aburame boy regulaurly they seemed to have become friends she supposed it was a good thing too if Shino ever found out about the Kyuubu he'd probably be the best to understand naruto's true situation as the Aburame were judged quite harshly for the bugs they held a litter had been born in the inuzuka kennels and Kiba had recieved his ninken dog he seemed to think having the little pup made him invincible if but for the fact the dog kept getting stolen by the girls and petted in the end he kept akamaru in his jacket and retreated to a shaded corner so the pup wouldn't overheat the girls in her class were doing quite well in their Kunoichi classes not that she yet taught them the realities so far all she taught was flower arranging and tea serving seduction and surviving after being captured and raped were only taught in the last semester before graduation as the council thought it the best way if the girls most of who were from the orphanage didn't have any other skills like cooking to resturant standards or advanced math skills for cleric work the mentality was being a shinobi would be all they had she was glad she chose to come to the academy it was quite relaxing compared to active duty she could see why Iruka the ex-ANBU liked it. She was marking test on Village history when Naruto came up to her probably going to finally admit he failed the exercise i set him' "hey kurenai sensei!" "hello naruto how're you how far did you get on that test i set you" expecting the answer of failed or for him to avoid the question she never expected the answer "i passed it watch!" and he did he became completely invisible head to toe no seall at al this was incredible she had to test it though even if it dispelled this was an incredible success she tried putting about one sixteenth of her chakra into the dispell and called out "kai!" it wavered for a second but held this was great! "naruto you can drop it now" when naruto dropped the transparency field he looked a bit tired and took a breath and seemed to be reenergised she had to ask how long!" "well if you mean when did i complete it two nights ago but i wanted to make sure i got it down before i came to you if you how long can i hold the field about twenty minutes before i get tired bt i'm improving slowly as i've been working on my chakra control through water walking and tree climbing." "naruto this is great i'm so impressed i thought when you never came back to me you'd given up on it but to hold the field like that and it never dispelled ok what we need to do now is expand the next exercise i'm going to demonstrate is used to gain definition to genjuts users it won't be simple in fact the best way to describe it would be a rare form of chakra control exercise you make a bunshin that isn't you see the reason henge is taught first and kawamiri second is to back up the bunshin jutsu, henge for form, and kawamiri for position but most people don't realise the bunshin wass created as a genjutsu exercise instead of imagining the normal form of yourself imaging a shape a rigid shape you then have to instead of moving an arm on the bunshin melt it into what you want go from one shape to another eventually transfoming it into an animal another exercise would be to make sure the bunshin appears further away in different places rooftops, and ceilings theoretically with chakra layering instead of using a solid surface to anchor you could make your bunshin float this will increase the range of your field making it easier to cast a wide area genjutsu but Naruto this is very important you can;t let anyone know about this it has to stay a secret i'll be by with the hokage tonight to confirm this as a village secret okay" naruto didn't know what to say just nodded he was going to keep it a secret anyway as it was going to be an ace in the hole he didn't expect Kurenai to order him though he wondered why oh well he'll find out tonight at least he had two more Genjutsu exercises he couldn't believe how simple they were he sould've thought of them himself.' while naruto was walking home Kurenai was taking a swig of Sake at her favourite bar called Reds History tests abandoned she found someone who had learnt chakra layering theory this was huge she wanted to shout about but knew she couldn't anyone who was found to have this skill would immedietly be a target and so would she be for teaching it most of the civillian council wanted naruto dead already and if they found out about this so would the Hyuuga who wouldn't be able to see through solid chakra all the would see was white they'd be more blinded by their bloodline active as for the Uchiha they would be jealous of someone having a better illusion jutsu than themselves that couldn't be copied as it was only chakra shape manipulation like the Yondaime's rasengan the sharingan created illusion's by doing the same thing naruto was only on a smaller scale by getting direct eye contact they imprinted the chakra from the casters to the victim's eye naruto's skill if mastered wouldn't need that making their bloodline inferior something they could never except she took one last swig of her sake' than went to the tower to make her report.


	8. secrets to keep

see previous disclaimer in chapter 1.

Hokage Tower --------

sarutobi frowned an interesting report on naruto's skill with the disguise field of invisibility and possible sealess Genjutsu it had as kurenai surmised much potential he himself would be able to do this he had the reserves just never had the motivation or thought to try kurenai was right to come to him about this the two doujutsu using clans wouldn't stand for this and if this knowledge came out publically then it might speed up the Uchiha's plans to kill himself and take over the village they already gained the control seal to the hyuuga branch and were only awaiting for a time when enough of the clan were on guard patrol that would happen in eight months itachi would slaughter most of the clan in five leaving only the seven children who were ignorant of the adults plans he was then going to go deep cover discovering the hiding places of high class nuke nins and killing people he polittically couldn't without starting a war all villages had their version of Itachi a deniable asset but it was rare one of such skill appeared as it meant sacrificing the skill to paying missions of the village but only itachi with the mangekyo and his being one of them would be able to wipe out the clan however itachi could not live to look at the children's faces so had decided to go black ops now it was time to resolve this problem with naruto. he'd gotten daily unofficial reports on naruto's progress over the summer he was quite proud he was able to do the basic three jutsu now and glad naruto started chakra control early as it was essential with his large reserves he hadn't put any of it in the file as it didn't matter basic skills he was going to learn anyway and if he did put in the file it would be seen as favouritism which it was but not to a degree that should matter now he displayed a skill that was until now theory only as most kage never tried genjutsu after a certain stage somewhere between chunin and jounin level ninjutsu were more destructive and couldn't be dispelled with but a pulse of chakra however layered Genjutsu it seemed was indeed unable to be dispelled he would have to learn this skill. He sinalled for Kurenai to follow him and they both shushined outside naruto's apartment door

NARUTO'S APARMENT------------

as he knocked on the door Hiruzen sarutobi watched as light round the edges of the doorway dimmed then swearing heard what was naruto up to in there the peep hole opened then closed immediatly after not that it mattered only people of chunin rank or higher were able to reqest anti - shushin seals to be placed on an apartment' he only appeared outside the door to be polite not that the sandaime knew that was one of the things naruto had researched and implemented.

the door opened and naruto's was standing in his pajama's "Heya Jiji, kurenai sensei, nice to see you "hello naruto" responded Hiruzen "what was that light i just saw through the doorway?" "oh that was me doing the exercise Kurenai sensei said i should" "how well is it going naruto?" asked Kurenai "well come in and shut the door and i'll show its cold out" Kurenai and Hiruzen did just that both smiling at the way naruto shivered when he said 'cold' and shook himslf at the same time. "lets see this amazing skill kurenai told me about the naruto i hear its quite special" naruto did just that with a smile on his face at hearing his jutsu being called special by the Sandaime he showed the tranparency jutsu and exercises kurenai told him that day he could easily bunshin any solid shape and could move it around but found difficulty in forming one shape into another it seemed too just melt he could undo it by just imagining how it was but the flicker gave away the fact it was a GenJutsu. "impressive but naruto i know kurenai told you how this has to be a secret correct?" "yes Jiji i was going to keep it a secret anyway it was going to be my surprise attack i was only going to show it at graduation i mean its not even finished yet!" "naruto yyou can't let anyone know about this if other villages find out they will want to know how its done other villages with undefeatable GenJutsu would be very bad so when you use this you will hae to make sure noone not even your teammates or teachers know you can do this." naruto understood he really did but wanted to show others what he did what he figured out firstbut decided to comply it was the Hokage after all who was asking "ok Jiji" Sarutobii smiled then said as an afterthought "naruto why don't you instead of melting the shape try extending it think like a growth turning a square into a rectangle then add more and once thats' done try it again with rounder shapes" hiruzen sarutobi was known as the Professor and God of shinobi no for the amount of jtsu he used but how he broke them down in his head for best use and understanding chakra theory in all fields further than anyone else. He was about to shushin but decided it was a nice night for a stroll "come on Kurenai"


	9. enter the snake lady!

see previous disclaimer in chapter 1.

it had been five month's since the night the Hokage and Kurenai had come into naruto's apartment since thenn Shino had passed proficiency with his Kama naruto's poisons had been cultivated and stored for use when he became an active ninja he only had to do two more things to get aprrenticeship firstly find a willing sensei of jonin rank and secondly show second rank mastery against a chunnin in a full contact spar he chose to use the kyoketsu shoge in the test as it would prevent his opponent from having the space to do jutsu and as an eventual capture ninja this was a good way to evaluate himself his opponent was called Tobi he had a manic grin and seemed to be repeating the word good all the time it was quite annoying he passed that test but failed to capture him as his favourite jutsu was kawamiri. he had gone to Dustin asking if he had any suggestions for a teacher but most of Dustins friends were chunnin it was only luck that yuggoa was ANBU the academy had been shut for the last three days as the village mourned for those lost in the Uchiha massacre and most of the teachers had to do guard patrol that the Uchiha no longer were there was reported one survivor in Sasuke Itachi had apparently been interupted by the Hokage and his ANBU as he was about to kill his younger brother last Sasuke was now in the hospital as a distraction he decided to work on expanding his chakra field for Genjutsu that seemed to be taking longest as he had to find private training areas he chose to use the northern forest it was only active during the exams and one week monthly as an evaluation area it was true the Aburame went there a lot but only at night the "nara used the southern where they grazed they're deer not too far from the Akamichi warehouse district but not too close to spook them from the constant smell of blood the butcher district gave off most practic was done in the training fields to the west and the Inuzuka stuck to their kennels in the east so this was the best place to be after all you'd either hav to desperate to hide from everyone like himself or plain crazy to like the place. he spent three hours increasing his field by sending multiple bunshin in front of himself it was a tedious exercise he then went to a tree in an open area marking three straight lines and started senbon practice at longer range than normal it was something he sucked at after about three metres his accuracy dropped from about eighty percent hits to forty and that wasn't even moving at speed he the launcher but that was mostly for a barrage and multiple enemies. He was throwing his last senbon of the pack when it got knocked off course by another he pulled out his kunai his rope knife kept at home today he spun around but saw no sign of anyone nor felt any chakra signature this was bad "whose there!" he then heard from above in the canopy a woman's voice "you know Gaki you shouldn't be out here this is the adults playground and also your pretty shit with those senbon" "i said whose there come out!" "all right all right." The woman then shushined behind him and he felt her chakra signature clearly he knew who this was this was an ANBU who he sometimes saw in the office by the name of Hebi without her mask she had amber eyes, a pale face and purple hair. She was wore a beige halter top with a black trench coat over the top she struck with a kunai at his face he deflected it against his own he jumped back a foot and shouted at her "crazy bitch!" she laughed and replied "thats what they say." "what do you want?" "i told you didn't i this here is the aduts playground go somewhere else shoo shoo." "No chance i got here first i'm training my senbon accuracy besides this is a big forest go somewhere else yourself" Anko was impressed she was a jonin and this kid didn't back down she heard about his looking for a sensei for apprenticeship from Kurenai he'd never get it as he was still a student and civilian and the civilian council had marked against him but perhaps she could teach him unofficially he used senbon which was weird for an academy student his accuracy with them was attrocious but he persevered anyway she liked that determination was how she survived after being abandoned by Orochimaru pre stubborness. "well brat it doesn't look like your doing very well so i'll tell you what i'm bored with this mourning of the uchiha crap! most of them were assholes anyway so i'll give you some pointers firstly your standing wrong your throwing widely like your using a kunai at the moment whereas a senbon needs to be held to the chest when throwing in a straight line. 'naruto couldn't believe he was doing that it was almost instinctive due to the amount of kunai practice was drilled in at the academy' "secondly something you don't need to know yet but when you graduate get some poisons to use it's much more useful when using senbon so if you miss your target by an inch it doesn't matter so much." naruto appreciated the advice and said so "thanks i've actually been growing poisons and antidotes at home already for next year" "impressive brat but the problem with that is most homegrown poisons are mundane and can easily be countered with the healing jutsu phoenix reborn and if your preparing anything now it'll probably spoil by your graduation." she really was impressed most academy students shied away from use of poison until after their first C-Rank when the saw true violence it was tradition that the first C-Rank mission would be chosen with the intent of heavy violence to get the students to see the realities of being a shinobi early most ended up being clerical workers and medics he threw her for a loop with his next comment "hey don't underestimate me i researched poisons hard before i chose one i'm growing some Suzembachi i got a whole room of the stuff" "Suzembachi your kidding me right thats a class B minus necrotic where would you get that!!" to get a better understanding of anko's shock here is the poison rankings

F - Class burn out of system

E - Class = basic healing jutsu required

D - Class = requires high class General antidote

C - Class = see professional medic

B - Class = requires specific antidote

A - Class = lethal

a plus and minus after each ranking signified minus for slow burning through system and plus fast burning necrotics destroyed the organs so even if you got the antidote you'd need to see a medic soon Anko considered herself a poison specialist Suzembachi was difficult to maintain if he truly did have a room full of the stuff she'd buy some from him without hesitation "i got a cutting of it from one of the caravan's told the trader i wanted to make healing salves cost me some but it'll be worth it i've already got some stored" "show me brat and if it's truly good i'll pay you seven thousand ryo for a quart" naruto saw another oppurtunity for income he already had a steady income now but more was better he sold tags, scroll, and suppressors to Dustin already Dustin didn't sell poisons as he didn't feel he had enough knowledge on them to add them to his stock and would need an extra licsence if he we were to start selling them as some were as anko mentioned perishable goods and if not sold in time would mean a loss of profit getting a licsence for one poison type wasn't worth it but this Hebi woman was obviously trustworthy she was ANBU this could be a good way to make a few more sales "okay my apartment is in the shinobi quarter" Anko shushined them there not knowing the exact location dropped them on a roof near the centre "alright which way?" "my block is that one" he pointed "which apartment?" "all of them i'm the only one who lives their i actually own the deed i live on the top floor east but grow and store my poisons in the centre apartment." "you own a block huh nice" she shushined them to the poison door he opened and showed her in this apartment had the bushels with a sprinkler system setup to hose which connected to the kitchen sink it was simple but worked the lab was setup in one of the bedrooms he had aquired so far six gallons of Suzembachi and had started the growth of a C - Class minus nuerotoxin called adare's it wouldn't be ready for extraction yet he could grow more but only wanted the best poisons for his use. anko looked around the boy was indeed cultivating Suzembachi you could tell by the pink leaves with a concentric circles dark purple border she bought the poison as asked and some antidote just in case she said goodbye and tried to shushin and failed! "what the hell?" 'naruto couldn't believe she encountered the anti shushin ward he added the security under an extra layer of wallpaper he'd managed to keep his actual seal skills a secret so far people only knew about the template tags, scrolls, and suppressors but shushhin wards required measuring the room sorting out all sort of equations oh well thats that out of the bag it didn't really matter he just would of preferred to be left alone abouut these things.' don't worry it's just a shushin ward" "but all warders mark the doorframes where they work it's part of their buisiness licsence contract i didn't see one coming in?" she opened the door and checked for markings then stared at me crap time to explain he hoped to brush it off as normal. "i learnt how to seal it's not that big of deal actually it's only the advanced seals that get difficult people just assume because all the dangeros stuff is hard you have to learn everything in order to do one not really it's only a small step up from doing a tag template. anko decided she wold look into that if it really was that easy she would learn it he was right she just assumed it involved years of study shushin and kawamiri was something Orochimaru used frequently in his battle style "you made it HA! what else you studying brat you got poisons, senbon and anti shushin seals you sound like you want to be a Hunter ninja." Naruto decided he may as well tell her as an ANBU she might be able to give him some tips "i do want to be a hunter well capture really see i want to be a Fett it's a title given in this exinct clan called the--" "Mandalores yeah i heard of them that's a might big goal you got there but now i think on it your skills do seem to lean that way" "hey how would you know what my skills are are you stalking me?"naruto backed up "no no i saw you through the window when you were sparring i'm friends with Kurenai it's why i decided to give you some pointers when i saw you my names Anko Mitarashi" "well it's good to know your not stalking me and to put a name to your mask other than Hebi" Anko did a doubletake how did this kid know who she was when she had her mask on he answered the unasked question "i've always been good with chakra signatures today's the first time i didn't sense someone actually it why i was so surprised when i heard your voice." Well i'm not surprised training ground forty four has a special type of tree that actually gives off chakra it blinds sensor type ninja." "hey since i know and you know i know your ANBU do you think you could give me some tips for tracking i haven't found anything in the public library i'm also trying to find an apprenticeship sensei" this was her in for giving him lessons "sure i can help you some as for a sensei i don't really no anyone at the moment whose taking on a student i'd suggest actually going to your own teacher though." "who Kurenai?" "no actually i was thinking Iruka he's a trap master thats one of the things you'll need to learn ambush techniques i can actually teach you senbon, poisons and maybe some tracking and survival but i'd need to get permission from the Hokage to take you deep into the forest for that and it'd have to be a long weekend or during summer break for you you seem to be actually be half way there with your skills really it's just improvement and experience you need.


	10. traps, the lessons that can be learnt

See previous disclaimer in chapter 1.

naruto approached Iruka carefully during first break there was nothing wrong with Iruka to naruto's mind he he kind to all the student's fair about pnishments and explained everything in detail but ever since the summer he felt he wasn't really getting anything out of the academy anymore it seemed boring the only skill he learnt here was Taijutsu and although naruto knew he had to learn about economics and trade to understand a clients need or village history so that konoha ninja seemed smart so they could get more clients to come to them but according to Anko he was wrong there was something indeed to learn here when an ANBU recomends someone thats a good sign "hey iruka Sensei i was wondering if i could ask for your help with something" Iruka looked up from his desk and smiled "oh hello naruto what do you need? did you have problems with the todays lecture on compact between hidden village's and their daimyo's or is it something else." "No no nothing to do with todays lecture i actually heard you were a trap master and was wondering if you could help me i was also told you'd be good for teaching ambush strategy." iruka blinked owlishliy he didn't expect this he preferred not to think of his days when on active duty but this would be okay but had to know "naruto not that i'm saying no but just out of interest who reccomended me" "Anko i met her when i was training she's a bit loud but fun." Iruka hoped to god naruto didn't pick up some of Anko's habits Konoha wouldn't survive he shivered at the thought of two Anko's have one of her infamous party nights across the whole city it always ended up in a brawl its how he got the scar on his nose he foolishly tried to take her dango off her the next thing he remembered was waking in her apartment he still couldn't remember what happened in those five hours Anko refused to tell him always answering coyishly its a secret she really frustrated him sometimes. "well naruto i'd be glad to teach yo traps and ambush techniques come back tomorrow at first break and i'll bring some equipment like drawings and maps i'm actually glad to teach it really frustrates me sometimes that i'm only allowed to teach whats on the curriculum unless a student approaches me it a stupid rule in my mind otherwise i would teach this subject in class so why the interest in traps." naruto really hated this Iruka would be the second person this week he told his dream to but he had sgreed to help "i want to be a Hunter capture ninja and Anko said these skills would help with that." iruka grimaced at that it was a tough field as hunters normally worked alone with no backup the council would never accept that he knew but it might happen by the time naruto reached chunnin afterall he'd be under the shinobi council rule as soon as he graduated evevn if naruto never reached hunter status it would be good to pass down these skills of his own as a Jinchiriku naruto was bound to be a ninja till death "naruto if you really want to be a capture ninja there are some other skills i could teach but you have to asklike i said rules and the practice would have to be after school as other students might think it favouritism." "i would like you to pass down any skills you deem relevant to my being a capture ninja" "good thats good i have three jutsu that would help you i will show you them in use and write a scroll on them i also have an idea that may help with chakra control but we'll talk tomorrow about that go use the rest of your break outside its a nice day.

the next day as everyone charged outside iruka brought out some papers they spent the hour debating when best to set a trap and what ones to choose under certain time and location restraints like a wide landscape would mean using tags and trip wire where as a closed one would use just the tags and hwo the head hunter jutsu could be used to double back and ambush an opponent at the end something strange happened Iruka gave him some paper and said to channel chakra into it the paper went soggy then split Iruka mumbled something about wind and water exercises.

naruto felt it was a good idea to ask Iruka for help he was a good teacher to a class but a great one when it came to individual lessons as he wasn't condescending for naruto not knowing a piece of knowledge tonight they would learn headhunter jutsu.

They were standing at the forest in the open clearing apparently the old headhunter jutsu involved using kawamiri with a lot of soil and was still good if used as a surprise tactic with two simaltaneous kawamiri's one out of sight and one to below whereas the new one was good for cautious opponents and melted you iinto the ground by using the tree walking skill to drag yourself under and the same technique across your whole body to propell yourself through the ground which is why chakra control exercises emphasise that mastery only came when you could use either arms or legs to stick to trees he soon got the first bursting out of the ground was the hard part as there wasn't much oxygen naruto could to a limited degree do the second type he could only propel himself slowly but hadmore oxygen as when you moved the soil more trapped air was released

in the two weeks of training they diid together naruto felt he had a lot more in common with iruka they even went to naruto's favourite ramen bar Ichiraku's twice they had to stop as there wasn't much more to teach the other two Jutsu taught were splinter senbon which was based on the Shodai's Mokuton techniques you tapped a tree from one side repelling the bark through chakra control exercises making splinters barrage out the other side it was uncontrolled but useful if trapped he taught Ten Ten that one she was ecstatic the third jutsu he taught was the Kiri mist technique that was immensly useful for trap users and maybe himself personally with his sealess Genjutsu and helped as Iruka taught himwater manipulation exercises it would take a long time to get anything out of it but the eventual advantages were great such as reduced chakra cost and easier control for any water jutsu unfortunately he didn't know any wind specialist to ask questions of

Sasuke was meant to return to class the next day everyone was wondering how he would be.


	11. the trouble with teme

See previous disclaimer in chapter 1.

Today was Sasuke's big return to the academy it was against the advisory of the doctors and the Hokage would've preferrred more time to pass as well but the advisory council had decided it had to be shown that the uchiha bloodline had not been truly lost that konoha was still strong and the uchiha would return. Multiple asassins had already been captured at the borders the closest they got was a sleeper cell from Iwa who ran a vegetable store unfortunatly for him he'd been for a long time watched and his reports modified regulaurly by putting the courier who had no chakra under Genjutsu a new replacement spy would likely be along soon. the class came early even naruto was interested this was the first member of their class to experience death in any fashion and they all wanted to know how it would affect them when it came to their turn even if graduation was a year away sasuke came into the class wearing his navy shirt with the Uchiha fanand black trousers he seemed to have lost something none of the students could describe it but he seemed less. The class was an indoor one that day Sasuke just stared out the window not seeming to listen noone called him on it it was expected over the coming weeks sasuke would start to challenge everyone and had an anger about him he was brutal in his attacks when naruto faced him the first time the match was called by iruka as it was a stale mate that had lasted fifteen minutes sasuke continued on the teachers had to pull him away the second spar was unofiicial sasuke chalenged him after school.

Sasuke approached as naruto crossed to the gates and simply said "fight me" "no i'm going home i'm not getting caught up in this i saw what you last time." This was would be the second time this scene would of been played out the first was against a civilian born named Sora who up until then held the highest position in Taijutsu Sasuke broke his left knee cap Sora was now placed ninth position he didn't seem in a hurry to gain back first the only punishment given was a detention. Naruto didn't want to get caught up in such a stupid thing it was now going round on the boys side of the class that something was wrong about the Uchiha the girls wouldn't listen they seemed to think he was still in mourning and it was inconsiderate to say such things. "Are you afraid of me afraid you'll lose" a crowd of students was now gathering naruto refused to do this he was about to keep walking when he heard it Grand fireball jutsu!' he turned around to see the flames coming at him and knew he wouldn't be fast enough to dodge then felt movement he was in a tree looked round and saw he'd been picked up and shushine'd by Kurenai, Iruka was berating sasuke about irresponsibility sasuke had his arms crossed and was ignoring him the boys looked visibly scared the way things were going that could be them next the girls looked on in awe at the damage his jutsu had done not caring for how naruto could've been harmed as their parents had told them he was trash and the Uchiha should be respected so who cared. Naruto struggled ot get out of Kurenai's grip he was going to beat that Teme into within inch of his life if iruka and Kurenai weren't here he would dread to think unfortunately kurenai had a better grip and more leverage "calm down naruto sasuke will be properly punished for this they're will be an enquiry and Sasuke will probably be suspended from the academy program." Naruto knew she was lying bur nothing could be done even after the enquiry Sasuke was aquitted on grounds of mental trauma his punsihment was psychological evaluation done on a weekly basis evevn with the Uchiha reputation it was a close thing to his suspension Sasuke would be watched by an ANBU from then on naruto was glad for the summer holidays things had gone downhill since the day of the fireball incident all the girls now viewed him as they had in the first year they had like Sasuke taken to calling him Dobe regular the boys of the class always arranged it so he and Sasuke ended up sparring instead of themselves they sometimes switched but only to shut Sasuke up and stop him going on another rampage. There was nothing Iruka or Kurenai could do spars were voluntary choice if naruto backed out his grade would suffer naruto was glad for the gauntlets Sasuke had taken to using a Katana he wasn't skilled with its use he just battered naruto's defences with speed and ferocity Ten Ten would of been appalled Sasuke went through six Swords he often tried to sweep behind and lunge at naruto's unexposed back as a result naruto now tended to take off his training weights during sparring making sure noone knew of them by changing at break before hand it'd be much easier with chakra based weights but if done incorrectly they had a tendency to break bones so he was waiting till he had more info on seals or enought money to buy a set he would be working at Dustin's ovder the break taking over some of Ten Ten's duties like taking of inventory lists and cashing up ten graduated and the previous week and would be on a training trip for two months Dustin going to help with armor design and apparently some other tricks. Anko had promised the survival training in the forest would happen in the last two weeks as she had gotten permission from the Hokage naruto was going to work his butt off this summer his Genjutsu bunshin field had widened to fiffteen metres Kurenai said the widest he'd ever get was twenty five after which human perception wouldn't work. His elemental training was doing well he could now influence the movement of still water but not running water but elemental infusion wasn't something you could learn in a month after all.


	12. I am and into the forest

See previous disclaimer in chapter 1.

Academy had ended the previous week and naruto had been working in Dustin's shop during that time this evening when shop was closed he would show his designs and get them approved dustin reckoned it would take three weeks to make the armor from scratch as naruto had wanted it was different then most armor having a light mesh weave with plated removable heavy armor on top this meant a few things such as when armor was damaged or outgrown he could replace the parts easily. It would also give him the ease of movement needed for his style of fighting Dustin approved of this idea but didn't think much of the coloring or the Helmet. "Naruto you'll look ridiculous people will think you some weird ass Samurai and even if i thought the coloring was good which i don't! this is the worst idea for camoflage which you'll need if you want to be a tracker ninja like you said." "don't worry about the colors dustin i intend to wear a travelling cape over the top leaving it open except when hiding as for the helmet it's really non-negotiable sorry." Naruto wasn't going to tell Dustin about the Transparency field he would of but the Hokage seemed pretty sincere about keeping his Genjutsu skills a secret.

the reason Dustin had objected to the color scheme was how bright and obvious it was the shoulder pads were green with an orange border. The knee and elbow pads were a matched crimson the Gauntlets and steel toe capped boots were an approved matte Black the torso was also approved of in its dark navy not that it mattered with the pure white legs and arms that would easily be spotted. he'd actually come up with a brilliant idea that had been approved by the sandaime he could now use the sealess Genjutsu tranparency field by saying if anyone asked that seals were layered into the travelling cloak otherwise he never would of got it

the helmet which Dustin hated was actually based on the same one his hero Canderous wore in the library picture it was collapsable by locks inside it an open face with covered cheeks the eyes easily shown giving a T shape open mask the helmet would also be green bordered with orange.

for the next five weeks naruto trained his ass off sharpening weapons reviewing his stances and improving his chakra control he wanted to be at his best Anko had gotten approval to take him deep into the forest and he wanted to prove he was worth her effort naruto put on his armor this would be a perfect field test.

Naruto got a surprise at the beginning of the eleventh week he was expecting to meet just Anko at the forests edge but found she was with both Kurenai and Iruka. Before he could ask Anko spoke and told him "Iruka and Kurena are here to help us over the next two weeks the best way to teach tracking is to do it they'll alternately take turns hiding we'll try to find and defeat them next week however it's them hunting you. in return for Kurenai helping us out i got to pay her for two bottles of her favourite Hellsing Sake' which your going to pay half of" "with what money i live on an orphan's allowance?" "bull shit! i went to Dustin to find out what you knew and what you had to learn!" naruto winced he didn't want many people knowing he was earning extra money if the council knew they might stop the pay and decide he had to pay back extra. "and for trying to lie you'll have to pay a bit extra on top!" "Kuso!"

It was a Gruelling two weeks more than once he was glad for his armor it saved him from some of Anko's violent urges the time was well worth the experience gained. He got a taste of the life he was training for what his life would soon be and the Ups and the Down's that came with it. On the resting nights the four of them sat around the campfire talking the Jonin telling adventures of their own Academy and Gennin days. He was surprised to hear about Iruka being a prankster but laughed when he heard about an incident involving a bottle of glue and the Hokage's beard. One thing he noticed but never mentioned was how the three skirted around any conversation about Anko's Gennin teacher he knew what it meant sometimes bad things happen. He himself never wanted to talk about the glares and whispers he recieved on a daily basis in any street of Konoha. Naruto looking on these nights felt this is what family would be like and hoped to never lose the bonds with these precious people.

The final tally was he and Anko had Caught Iruka twice and Kurenai four times, unfortunatly for her he was now great at Genjutsu recognition and dispelling them something she was used to relying on. While the two worked together however they failed to capture them at all something he still felt sore about no matter how much he was consoled about he wasn't even a Gennin yet. On the week Anko and himself were being hunted they were caught four times total however one time was de to his armor clinking together he was going to rectify that with padding as soon as possible. on the last day of each week he hunted by himself to find the other three each time he fond Kurenai but not Anko or Iruka. They still judged his skill saying he would be a competent tracker which was all the praise he needed the four came out of the forest with a healthy respect for each other.

The very first thing Anko did upon leaving the forest that evening wasn't get a shower or such no she headed to the Hokage tower she protested greatly about the block on naruto recieving apprenticeship saying how he had great potential skill she was careful not to mention she'd already been teaching him. Her protest of course failed against the coucil's views civilian and Shinobi alike that it was better if naruto was on a team that would be loyal and dedicated to Konoha.

the team chosen were

Sensei: - Hatake Kakashi son of Sakumo the Hatake clan took honour and village loyalty to such a high priority that Sakumo had taken his own life when he failed the mission of protecting the current Daimyo's father from asassination. Kakashi himself at the Age of eleven was his second.

Team member One: - Sakura Haruno Daughter to council member Koya Haruno the family had worked since the villages inception to gain prestige and power they were the originally a large family who were all Clerks Sakura would be the first Ninja from them and the first step to reaching Clan status she currently had three younger cousins in the Academy Moegi, Udon, and Lita

Team member Two: - Sasuke Uchiha it was well Known he hated naruto and would perfectly willing to hurt possibly kill him since the Uchiha massacre although he held contempt to most it was known he loathed all who were Traitors.

It was hoped by putting him on a thoroughly loyal to Konoha team he would fear the possible retribution if he defected and by blocking any training other than academy standard he would soon die on the direct combat team they placed him with. the Council were deeply displeased with his learning weapons by himself as it contrevened their plan but it was not something they could act against. Sarutobi was saddened by the plans but knew if he went against them he would be deposed which would leave naruto even more exposed to attack. Anko left the tower fuming and proceeded to get drunk.

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MEANWHILE AT ICHIRAKU'S---------- naruto was on his sixth bowl of ramen that night he missed it over the two weeks store bought ration type wasn't the same as Ichiraku's Iruka was at the same time on his second bowl when naruto decided to ask a question that had been bugging him for a while now. "Hey Iruka Sensei what am i gonna do in school this year i mean you know i'm ready to graduate as you've seen" "naruto your not the only one in the class who knows the basic three most of the clan and some of the Legacy children can too the point of having three years isn't so much the Jutsu they could be mastered inside of two months easily for som the point of the academy is time. Time to grow improving chakra reserves and control adding any extra jutsu that you can get ahold of speed, strength, and accuracy these are all things a gennin needs to have that doesn't even include the paperwork noone is ahead on." naruto looked at him and realised he ws right this year would be perfect to rfine his skill sets. "not to mention naruto the best missions go to the Team's with the intelligent member so tests are important it's what defines the difference later on in your career in whether you protect and escort a labourer or a Daimyo." naruto's eyes widened at that fact he never knew he'd have to get revising more he knew he'd never be a Nara but he wasn't stupid and he actually tried unlike KIba who didn't even try in half the tests as he said he didn't think they mattered as he would one day be clan head of the Inuzuka he only needed to be strong. Idiot!

but narto had one more problem he had to ask about "what about Sasuke?" iruka grimaced "as i told you last year there's not much i can do there the Council sided with him and he's being careful to follow the rules now as you know the only thing i can say is yo only have to put up with him for one more year on paper Sasuke is ranked Rookie." naruto scoffed knowing a lot of the others weren't stupid enough to show of all their skill especially with the Uchiha's mental state. "as i was saying because he's rookie the only male on his team will be the person ranked last so you should be perfectly fine and this is your last year seeing him regular." Iruka would really bad when he ssaw the official preliminary team slatings two weeks later. "Yeah only one more year with the Teme!" "Naruto!" "sorry Iruka Sensei."

**Hokage tower**

The Sandaime Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi upon his graduation to Gennin, Chunnin, Jonin and eventually Kage had taken vows that he would always be loyal to konoha above all others today he broke his oath if in only a small way he still cried he cried for having thhe need to make the decision he burnt the personal file he'd written up describing naruto's Genjutsu ability if anyone else had made this discovery at his age they would of been hailed as a prodigy naruto would be accused of using the foxes power where was the konaha he once knew.

**in Ame**

Nagato sometimes known as Rinegan Pein looked down from his new tower he'd just been elected to the rank of Amekage after Hanzo's retirement it had taken decades for him to achieve this but it was time for his plans to finally come to fruition publically to the outside world Hanzo was still the Kage not that it really mattered Ame had always been isolationist but the less knowledge known the better his plans as they were was concieved in the second shinobi war as he watched his friends and parents die around him he would unite the land under one banner his he would become the new emperor and forge peace as it once was it was his fate his destiny as proclaimed by the frog sage's prophecy the child of peace with the eyes that could see all through the deaths Gaze.

**in Kiri---**

Madara Uchiha laughed deep and loud he'd just heard from his spy Zetsu of Rinengan Peins ascension to Amekage. The fool thought himself invincible and untouchable as a God. He did not know all his plans were really Madara's thanks to his finding the lost knowledge of the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan that could only be attained by killing a sibling and taking their eyes this allowed for two things Immortality and a new level of illusion one which even the Rinengan could not defeat the the only people who could were mostly gone he'd destroyed the last of the Hyoton users in the bloodline purge damn them and their reflected eyes. He'd had sanctioned the Kaguya to kill some upstart villages then deemed it an atrocity the Kaguya had of course as expected in retaliation tried to attack the Capital. The purge was easy to push through after that and he had gained popularity for it quelling the small but useless rebellions against his rule. Unfortunatly six of the Seven Swordsman had tried to asassinate him Sasame stayed liking his idea to destroy the blasted village system this time of relative peace did not suit Madara his clan was weakened and his own power removed because of the Senju's idea for alliance he would have his revenge and destroy Tobirama's dream his only problem was the jinchiriku but they would be destroyed in war nine lives gone is as good as one and one life's loss would not be noticed he idly wondered once again of Zetsu's existence he proclaimed he no knowledge of who he truly was or where he came from Madara believed he was one of Orochimau's failed experiments on Mokuton if true he would find it ironically funny.

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if you want a good idea of naruto's helmet think Magneto from X - men

the removable plate armor seems to be what happens with Jango Fetts design but i may be wrong.

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I would like to thank eclipseX for the continued support but please review and please no flamers.


	13. one more year

See previous disclaimer in chapter 1.

naruto's year had not started great he was late for the academy after getting home from Ichiraku's he'd found while he was away in the forest some idiot's had tried to repeat the same thing that happened alll those years ago and vandalise his apartment luckily he'd had his shushin wards up the only way to get past them would be to flare chakra of the same frequency for about a minute or more thereby overloading them something ANBU wouldn't ignore. His locks were sturdy and windows sealed with a piece of hard iron inside and out also had alarm seals on if damaged or removed in the end they'd scrawled hate messages on the door and walls they didn't seem to of realised he used the other apartments for storage as well as they were left alone he spent the night cleaning them of he was highly strung when it came to the appearance of his apartment he was always afraid a passing student would comeby and the class would start calling him Demon he knew it was an irational stupid fear but it was a recurring nightmare for him.

after getting into the class late he'd gotten jokes about his color of his armor idiot kiba had started jokes about water melons and most of the class soon joined in he wold of punched the boy nearly if Iruka didn't settle the class just then they reviewed the kawamiri like last year and added the henge afterwards their were no failures this time natural growth of chakra levels made sure of that.

Sasuke decided to add on the bunshin afterwards and smirked like it was some big achievement i decided to not disabuse him of that notion the rest of the clan children probably already knew it even Kiba if the sniggering was anything to go by. The fangirls of course ate it up he wondered how he thought that impressive personally he thought the fireball that thrown last year was better no that he wanted to admit it.

During first break he sat on the roof looking at the clouds he wouldn't be bothered here he idly watched as tthe other students fought in the ring the girls gossiping to the side one more year he repeated it in his head like a mantra he would be away from the tedious days and would get to see the outside world and the wonders of the elemental nationsIruka had said this would be a year for improvement but the only thing that he could improve in skills was the area of his Genjutsu field and elemental manipulation he'd like to learn elemental clones they were the ultimate force multiplier with his ch. akra levels and the transparency field the possibilities would be endless he would be an unseen army who needed hirashin with his eventual skills he wouldn't be ther almost instantly he would be everywhere. Unfortunatly it was a licensed skill and like advanced seals only learnable when he got his Hiate Anko promised him she would teach the water version with practice and his mist technique he'd soon be unstoppable.

One more year.

Naruto's day went downhill after break the first thing they did was a spar he of course ended up with Sasuke as always. it seemed over the break Sasuke had learned more than Bunshin someone had been teaching him the sword he had no problem with that he'd have been a hypocrite if he did his problem was Sasuke's aggression issues which as always were direcred at him he knew someone was teaching Sasuke because of the moves he was using no way did he come up with that mid air reverse flip where he tried to strike at his head he still wasn't great at it and attacked to directly to be a danger at all but some of his moves were definately taught. It seemed the girls had tried to emulate him they all brought Tanto's the fangirls didn't even know how to hold them right one of the girls Ami actually held hers in a close reverse inside grip all it would take is a shove and she would of been impaled on her own blade. Kurenai took all the tanto's away and said they could have them back after the passed a basic three hour long instruction course but that would of cut into their Sasuke watching time so they changed their minds and decided it wasn't that impressive when everyone else had the same idea.

The paper tests seemed to be getting more difficult with having to work out equations relating to angles with throwing weapons and concussive force required to destroy a specific theoretical object of a certain size it was hard but with the motivation of better missions in the future he got a ninety two unfortunatley Sasuke with his eighty seven took it as an affront and thought naruto was finally getting into the rivalry so did his fangirls who told him off for trying to show him up he learned the wrath of feminine fury that day wasn't just something Ten Ten and anko had Kurenai had to calm them down before he would climb down from the tree.

Two months into the semester he saw Anko sitting in a resturant with a Dango stick in one hand and a report in the other he hadn't seen her in a while so decided to say hi maybe she could help him out neither Iruka or Kurenai could think of a new skill he was able to learn during the year maybe she could come up with something that could work. "Hey Anko!" "hi naruto hows things Gaki school?" he rolled his eyes anko could never be serious like most adults it was a major part of her personality to be as upbeat and unique as possible. "Yeah riiight anywho i was wondering if you wanted to come over mine for dinner?" he knew he couldn't ask her in the street for idea's or lessons she said how the lessons they had were to be kept secret he wouldn't break that trust. "Sure i got nothing else to do tonight." Anko had in fact been avoiding naruto she couldn't face him after hearing the councils plans concerning his team but she couldn't avoid him forever and knew if naruto was inviting her over it was involving some lessons naruto hated to cook and preferred his privacy only meeting friend's at the nuetral ground of Ichiraku's. "make sure you have something other than ramen though." She emphasised it by waving her dango in front of his face naruto understood the small price for lessons.

TWO HOURS LATER

anko strolled into naruto's apartment like she owned the place she sat down at the table and proceeded to eat the nine sticks of dango. Naruto knew he couldn't get her attention yet it was better to yell at the hokage monument than try to get anko's attention when she went like this she was in a world of her own for some reason the word Tsukyomi flashed across his mind he dismissed the errant thought anko finished he plate trhen sighed contentedly. "So brat what'd you want? why am is my magnifent prescence here tonight?" "Well you see Anko i don't know what to do? i've got a year left in thte academy and the only thing i can work on is elemental water manipulation the only good stuff i want to do is all licensed skills i asked Iruka and Kurenai and they've got no idea either." Naruto once again felt bad about hiding his Genjutsu skills from one of his precious people but it was a Hokage's order. "well um" anko took a thinking pose and started rubbing a non-existant beard like she was the Sandaime then raised her finger in the air and shouted. "Eureka!" "what whatv'e you got tell me tell me!" Anko was grinning she'd found a way to prepare naruto for his slating and get one over on the old farts. "naruto i've got a skill for you that is perfect and one that you'll soon be able to use in public without trouble. "which one?" "two actually both fire jutsu." naruto's eyes widened fire techniques were destructive as hell they went against his water element but meshed if he ever learnt it quite well with his wind. "But how would i be able to use them without questions being asked?" "i'll tell you but you mustn't react badly or go storming off you promise." naruto was wary why would anko make him promise to not storm off she knew he held his promises highly and tried to never break them he wasn't sure but remembered these were two fire jutsu that was just awesome so he just nodded. "Uchiha like the one in your class are reowned for use of fire jutsu they almost seem to be addicted to the damn things you've seen him practicing i'm told you were almost on the recieving end of one after all. I heard and remember your promise here that you'll be on his team next year you can just say that you copied him he can't complain because that's what his bloodline does." anko smiled widely naruto wasn't sure now what mood to be in he get's two fire jutsu but was probably going to be on Sasuke's team after graduation what happened to the rule where dead last went with the rookie why couldn't it be lazy Shikimaru probably some sort of Clan deal one year just extended. Crap "what are the Jutsu's" he said glumly. "Hey hey don't be down it's not that bad i know he's an asshole as is your teacher but just do as i do and roll with the punches." "My Sensei's an asshole?" "Erm, best not think about that you got another seven month's in the academy afterall now the two fire jutsu i'm going to teach you are the Grand fireball you saw and Phoenix flower which is a few smaller ones all at once." They sounded like good Jutsu but naruto's mind kept staying back to two thought's he was on the team with Sasuke and his Sensei was apparently just as bad Fuck! he wondered who his other team member would be. "Oh and naruto i would work on your mist technique your eventually gonna be on a team with a sharingan user after all."

Fuck!!!

please read and **review**


	14. revelations

See previous disclaimer in chapter 1.

joroi matte was a chunnin of konoha had been for six year's now he was a Gennin when the Kyuubi attacked he was on mission when his family died two sister's, mother, father he'd resented that little fox brat from the moment he returned and heard of the Sandaime's anouncement the Yondaime had sealed it the Kyuubi and the village was now going to apparently bow down and give thanks to this child that was supposed to hold the beast. 'Yeah right!' everyone knew what happened when you killed a demon's container it killed the demon the only way it would survive was if the holder died of old age it's how the demon's that once plagued the world before the rise of the rikodou sennin were exterminated to the numbers they were the Nine the Biju were the only one's who once couldn't be sealed the rest of the Demon's the weak one's were now sealed in objects in the so named Demon country the council's idea was let him die working fo them but what if he got stronger he couldn't let that happen he would kill the beast now before it escaped and destroyed anymore families like his.

Naruto was approaching his apartment it was two weeks till graduation it had been a long year he almost wished Anko hadn't told him of his upcoming Team mate being Sasuke oh there'd been up point's showing the two Fire Jutsu off at the twenty four week review had been a brilliant thing explaining how he'd just copied Sasuke. He was ready to burst a blood vessel that day he had decided that if he couldn't get along with him he would annoy the hell out of him damn the fact that they were going to be team mates he'd placed some pranks against him. Paint based tag in the desk glue on the chair simple things inspired by Iruka's stories in the forest. He'd done the same for Kiba the best pranks were the ones where you didn't get caught. he also as anko advised mastered the mist technique he intended to use it liberally he worked for his skills Sasuke wasn't going to steal them when his Sharingan activated if it ever did he'd just find that funny if it didn't he'd just reached the door when everything went dark.

he awoke to find himself tied up he was in a small room the windows boarded up his equipment was all to the side out of reach and a man was standing in front of him the only thing he currently had on was a pair of pants and two pairs of chakra suppressors what the hell now! "i'm sorry for knocking you out" the man a brown haired chunnin it seemed chuckled lightly. "Well i'm more than sorry for that but nothing we can do." "What are you talking about? let me go!" "i'm sorry but i can't do that you see oh this is so difficult but i can't do this without explaining the facts it wouldn't seem right." Another ruefull chuckle as if he said some private joke he put a gag over naruto's mouth naruto struggled and shouted but couldn't stop him. "i'm going to tell you a story the story its a real story and it happened ten years ago the Kyuubi was aproaching Konoha it had destroyed villages on its rampage from the depths of Demon country we all knew it was coming this way and it did the only way to defeat a higher level Demon is to seal it normally into an object but the Kyuubi is different such power would melt any object in it's vicinity so it had to be done a special sealing object a living one you." he stared into naruto's eyes coldly but seemed to be far away "when you die all sorts of things could happen the kyuubi has never been sealed before you see so noone's absolutely sure. It could escape but damaged or intact, it could die with you, or you may never die there's signs of that or you;ll be long lived you age slower it's why your so small for your age not by much maybe two years but that could be just the start but you see they made you a shinobi because the knowledge of how you were sealed is lost the paper seals went blank and the Yondaime's skills mean it's not replicable. they want you dead all of us do if you die somewhere else on a mission nothing to fear but Konoha would have sins on their hands blood of families untold i can't have that. This cabin is lined with high yeild exploding tags as is the area surrounding it i'm sorry but i can't let you live." His eyes were tinged bloody red and had a madness in them he walked out of the cabin saying before he shut it. "May you live a better life in the next cycle and find happiness." Naruto was in shock from what he had heard he wasn't even struggling. It all made such terrible sense why his Chakra levels were so high why he healed so fast the glares of hatred the whispers the attacks from when he was little. He held within him the Nine tailed beast Kyuubi no Kitsune everyone knew and didn't tell him everyone apparently wanted him dead. No! No! he would not die he would be more more than TRASH! more than just a damn CONTAINER! he would prove his existence he would one day reach his dream the title Fett and live for those precious to him he was NARUTO UZUMAKI!

Now how to escape he didn't know how long he had before this place exploded and didn't know if the guy was watching well his equipment was right there so thats sorted now escape. The bindings were done efficiently he knew from studying capture knots sepereated hands, and knots seperating the legs. If he flared his chakra might set off the tags so that was out but the knots could be bypassed all it would take is some pain and blood loss the skin would rip but he was no stranger to pain and it was that or death. "Ahhhh!! son of a bitch!" he could see the vessels on his wrist quite clearly he grabbed his stuff only putting the boots and wrist blade on and charged the door assumimg it would be locked from the outside it was. The door splintered apart the man was standing outside finishing off the perimeter tags he mentioned he looked up in shock. Then his eyes had that madness he previously saw the chunnin charged with a beastial roar! "Why won't you just Die!!" he charged with a kunai outstretched it was rather anti-climactic. naruto dropped his stuff then released the trigger on his wrist blade it plunged into the man's stomach and he coughed up blood. he dropped his kunai and took two steps back drawing himself of the blade he looked down not comprehending. he fell to his knees then on his back his last whispered words while sobbing inconsolably were "please please die for me!"

naruto stood staring at the body for about five minutes he'd killed a man it was in self defence but he'd killed a man he dragged the body into the cabin it didn't look regularly used picked up the perimeter tags then proceeded to get dressed. His movement's were slow methodical and when ready he went to Ichiraku's he didn't know why but did anyway maybe he felt it was a way to prepare for the judgement he expected maybe it was his time to build up courage he would never know he felt numb that night. he paced towards the Tower the place he always saw as a refuge now seemed taller and more menacing the shadow it cast deeper. he knocked on the door he knew was always open for him. "come in" naruto looked around sensing the ANBU. "Jiji can i talk to you... alone for a moment" his eyes flickered to the corners the Sandaime raised two fingers and the presences were gone. He proceeded to tell the tale of the night the old man seemed more solemn and solid then he ever saw him no mirth or kindness in his eyes he may as well of been stone for all his movement in the story. "naruto i'm sorry you found out like this i i had intended to tell you when you graduated in a better way than that." he described the law protecting him from retribution of his own generation by their not knowing of the sealed beast 'any method would of been better than that he wouldn't of had to try too hard.' "i'm sorry also you had to kill a man i had hoped wel i always hope that my Gennin have time before they kill. I don't blame you but we will have to hide the body as you now know why you may understand what would happen if people found out." 'bad, very very bad, very bad.' " i will tell the Council i informed you early i will Katon the body and any evidence i suggest you take tomorrow off i will send a note to Iruka explaining you have permission to be absent and send Anko to you in the morning once i've explained it to her again i'm sorry i do care for you naruto i see you as a second grandson you know? you are more than it you will be no are a Shinobi of Konoha you show what is the will of Fire." he hugged naruto and sent him on his way going to destoy the evidence in the clearing described Hiruzen was proud of Naruto's strength and hoped this event didn't break him.

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	15. coping and graduation

See previous disclaimer in chapter 1.

naruto as he walked home from the tower still felt numb dead inside he would definately take tomorrow off maybe the next day too he was relieved that he wouldn't be punished but it felt wrong to hide a man's death was this the shinobi world the life Iruka, kurenai and anko said you had to experience to truly understand. he got in and closed the door falling down against it right now the Hokage was probably burning that man Naruto shivered at that thought not the flames burning the body but to die unoticed to be forgotten he didn't feel guilty not at all it was him or me he thought he stared at the seal on his stomach and now understood it's function he thought it a vile thing and tried to ignore it as he always had but his eyes kept straying back his life had been hell because of that seal he'd had to and would continue to need for the rest of his days however long they may be fight for his respect he would not get depressed he would not brood or go half insane like the uchiha he was stronger than that he watched the sunrise from the rooftop it never seemed as beutiful before Anko came over straight from guard duty on the wall and consoled him he rested on her they talked of what it meant to be a Jinchiriku a human sacrifice and the feelings of killing a person how he should never revel in it just be happy in his survival, or success of mission. she told him of the Council's plans and to have caution and never show true strength around them he cried knowing he would be put on a team designed to kill him that was the closest he came to breaking down it really helped Iruka and Kurenai came by they didn't know what had happened but were worried for him that improved his spirits these really were his precious people.

He didn't take the next day off the academy like he was thinking just returned and acted like nothing at all had happened Iruka and Kurenai continued to throw subtle glances but soon thing's were back to normal and it was time to graduate. As expected Sasuke took title of Rookie of the year not that it meant anything as the real contenders didn't try for fear of his wrath it was the largest graduating class in six years most would in their careers only get to the rank of honourary chunnin clerk, guard, or medic. None of the class had achieved apprenticeship status it was also the largest class for clan children although Hinata's birth was brought on early due to the malovent chakra of the Kyuubi and shino was one day out from having graduated the previous year it was only twelve minutes of difference but the Aburame would of thought it illogical to apply to be moved he would graduate either way as far as they were concerned.

Anko did indeed give him the water clone jutsu they had a small evening party at Dustin's with Ten Ten, Iruka, Kurenai and of course Dustin present Iruka and Kurenai gave him Ichiraku coupons but Ten Ten and Dustin gave him something more practical that would switch out when needed with his Asassin's blade three serated claws better for widde slashing. it was harder than expected to learn water clone it took him three days of the five day break to understand it's use he was only able to control three clones so far no army of one anytime soon.

The meeting day for team's wasn't as great as it should of been the other teams were happy enough but team seven were a grumpy lot sasuke thought the other two were beneath and useless to him including naruto even though he'd been challenging him for the near past two years he seemed to have abandoned the Katana thank god! Sakura seemed unhappy because Sasuke was ignoring her and refused the date she offered she also somehow in her deranged mind by the glares sent at him thought this was naruto's fault maybe she thought Sasuke was shy? Naruto was unhappy of course because he knew the true reason behind his team's formation also their as anko said those months ago Asshole sensei was three hours late!

the doot slid open slowly naruto threw a Senbon at the guy's jugular he had an eyepatch gravity defying silver hair and a mask covering the lower half of his face he just smiled his eye upturning in a U shape the Senbon deflected off a Kunai held flat in front "my name is Kakashi Hatake and my first thought's of you all is... i hate you meet me on the roof in five minutes he then shushined off. '

Asshole'.

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	16. team seven bell test

See previous disclaimer in chapter 1.

"My name as i said downstairs is Kakashi Hatake and i mostly value teamwork" 'naruto would have scoffed considering who was present Uchiha with his superiority complex and Haruno her Fangirlism the only reason he didn't was he wanted to create the right impression to the man who would leading them not teaching if the man followed the council plans noone even knew his true skills but the Hokage and Kurenai the Uchiha rolled his eyes exageratedly.' "now my dreams likes and dislikes are none of your buisiness introduce yourselves" another of those eye smiles "you first pinky." sakura looked indignant at being called that but continued on anyway (sakura's spiel) 'again what did i do to piss that girl off?' now you duck head (sasuke spiel) 'hmm not gay like all the boy's thought he's just very Emo, idiot if he wanted to repopulate his clan so much maybe he should get a girlfriend.' "BLONDIE!" "hmm you say something Kakashi sensei" a very greenly dressed jounin training felt the sudden need to shout out about hip attitude maybe he should have another contest with his eternal rival. "introduce yourself" "my name is Naruto Uzumaki" "Baka!" from sakura "and my dream is to be an elite capture ninja" Kakashi's eyebrow raised this he did not know "my likes are Ramen, training, Hokage Jiji, and the rest of my precious people." Your dislikes?" "Judgemental people and being underestimated" Kakashi nods at that in understanding then continues on "today we will have a test on survival to see whether your worthy to become gennin" Sasuke interupts "i already proved i'm ready to be Gennin i graduated!" "yeah!" again Sakura interupting someone. "Actually that was a test to see if you are ready to prove yourself the actual Genin test is much harder and has about a sixty six percent rate of failure" all three paled dramatically "follow me to training ground seven."

use of official training grounds was another licensed thing he only got to use the edge of the forest when he was younger as it was public access and the actual forest because he was supervised. civilian and academy training grounds were little more than a few wooden poles used for targeting and strike practice however Clan and officilal grounds had all sorts different terrains runnning tracks and proper assault courses it was much better the majority of the training was done on natural ground but it was good to know facilities were there to use.

"Now listen carefully the purpose of this test is that you each get one of these bells from me within the next hour if you fail you'll get sent back to the academy for another year." All their eyes widened at that fact "but kakashi Sensei we don't want to hurt you and beside there's only two bells Sakura i'm a jounin and the only way you'll win this test is if you come at me with intent to kill oh and as a weird aside note remember to look underneath the underneath" he took out a Kunai. "Begin!"

All three used a kawamiri retreat "good" shouted Kakashi as he took out an orange book which he proceeeded to start reading "its nice to know i have such excellent cowards on this team!" Sasuke of course took the obvious bait his pride of the Uchiha having been stung. _'Idiot'_ Sakra popped her head out to get a better view of the fight Sasuke had some speed but never enough to defeat a Jounin. He made a grab for the bells and missed he growled took three steps back then used the Grand fireball. Kakashi's eyes widened to comic proportions and Sasuke grinned widely at his victory the Fireball leaving no body but ash _'wait no body? ash?'_ Sasuke seemed to realise also that wouldn't happen as he looked around everywhere prepared for the attack then looked down too late "Headhunter Jutsu." it was funny to look at but that cut down the chances of getting a bell wait thats it! 'there was never any chance of Gennin defeating a was it Kakashi mentioned in his introduction _'Teamwork'_ thats what this was all about a teamwork exercise now how to get the others to help him out?

Naruto grabbed Sakura to prevent her from interfering by the back of her dress then dragged her back to a further away clearing "Naruto Baka! let me go i've got to help Sasuke-kun!" "Sakura how would do that i know your skills you go over there and the only thing that'll happen is your defeat" she hung her head in acceptance of that fact Sakura wanted to be a damsel not a Shinobi the only reason she joined the academy was family orders. "however if i fight off Kakashi while you dig him out?" she perked up quickly catching on she grabbed his shirt trying to grab him like he grabbed her he used chakra to stick she fell on her backside. "Sakura two things first don't pull me that is not acceptable and second i'll only help you if you pass the message to Sasuke you promise?" she nodded fervently. "very well the message isThree people and Teamwork to pass, oh Sakura if you don't pass that message i'll make your life a living hell" she went all meek he didn't even need to use killing intent so pathetic. He knew in a real life situation Sasuke wouldn't work with him but maybe if he had no other choice well we'll see.

Naruto was getting tired it had been ten minutes and no action from Sakura or Sasuke he couldn't look backwards with the pace of fighting it was at his top speed and Kakashi still had that orange book in one hand and a kunai in the other the one time he had tried to look Kakashi had tried to stick his fingers up his ass claiming it a Jutsu their sensei was a pedo! weren't there any checks for this kind of thing how many other paedophile shinobi were out there

In their respective places Jiraiya and Orochimaru of the Sannin sneezed earning Jiraiya a beating for watching the women's baths.

he was just about to pull back when sasuke jumped in and attacked Kakashi retreated three jumps Sasuke gave a nod in the breather and a magnaminous smile like he'd done all the fighting work and suggested teamwork. 'Teme' Kakashi finally put the book away. "Mah mah it seems i'll have to take you seriously now. They attacked in concert in a flanking manouver it seemed as though Kakashi was still finding the attacks easy to deflect then "Grand fireball!" what was he doing that could of hit me? thought naruto kakashi Kawamiri'd again Sakura grabbing the bells in the moment of disorientation and rolling between them. the alarm bell went off "vey good Sakura but who are you going to give the other bell to?" Sakura was wracked with doubt by the nod she and Sasuke had talked about the test during their attack plans she sighed and handed out both bells. "are you sure? you'll have to go back to the Academy and only naruto will be on a team with Sasuke." she closed her eyes and let go of the bells. "well then you Pass! all of you, you obviously got the definition of the test which is teamwork. Konoha is the only hidden village that lean on the ideals so heavily that working together makes you stronger sure the other villages use it but only as necessity your teammates will be your new family those that abandon their teammates in my eyes are trash those who betray Konoha are worse than that." he walked behind a bush beckoning them to follow they came to the Heroes monument "this here is the place all the names of Konoha's best are written they died in service to the end showing loyalty remember these ideals and follow them. _'__Subtle the council must of heard he now knew of the Kyuubi.'_ "Now i expect to meet you all tomorrow for training here at six thirty Ja' ne, and he shushin'd off without warning.

'Asshole'

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	17. D Ranks and wave part one

See previous disclaimer in chapter 1.

Every day Kakashi was late by three hours naruto used the time for fitness the other two just sat there. Anko had said Kakashi was pretty messed up in the head from the trauma of the last war apparently he was whats Known as a battlefield baby straight to war from an early graduating class at age eight. If anko was calling someone messed up he thought he should worry and this guy was their Sensei!

They had been doing Three D - rank missions a day for the past three weeks and a spar at the end of the day. It was he'd been told by Anko a way to get out of the academy mentality and realise work was an all day thing now. Although he graduated and the Council couldn't stop him from learning anymore he did it in secret in the evenings anyway better to not cause trouble for friends. Anko had been drilling him on uses of clones in battle when to slip in an illusory how you should make sure they dodged dispel attacks to the vital areas and better control she knew more clones but wouldn't give them as he hadn't earned them in her eyes.

If he saw the Daimyo's wifes cat one more time he would gut it slowly if it weren't for the armor he would've been scratched to hell as it was he needed a new paint job. "Kakashi sensei can't we take a C - Rank yet i'm fed up of these chores." an affirmative grunt came from Sasuke and a rebuttal from Sakura. "Naruto Baka shut up and stop questioning Kakashi sensei!" _'Like he'd actually taught enough to earn the title Sensei.'_ "Actually Sakura i was going to ask for a C-Rank today i think your all ready for it." Sasuke seemed to preen himself

The mission chosen was escort a drunken bridge buider to wave he hoped those high marks paid off soon it was aproximated as a two week journey total the guy was disrespectful of his height. Naruto needless to say would of skewered the guy if it weren't for being held back by Kakashi who said it was the wrong idea to kill the client. The Hokage chuckled lightly and Iruka on mission office duty gave a suffering sigh at his previous students actions. _'he wouldn't of really killed the guy just a lesson in respect maybe a few whacks with the Mace end of his Naginata.'_

naruto couldn't believe he missed all that the Demon brothers hiding in a big puddle on a dry day Kakashi's Genjutsu laden kawamiri he was supposed to be training as a capture nin all that training in the safe village had left him lax Sasuke had attacked instantly without trouble or hesitation like himself it wasn't fear like they thought but shock of his own stupidity only his quick reflexes and secret training had allowed him to dodge the poisoned Gauntlet stupid idea what if you scratched yourself or bumped someone the only way he would do that is if it was a totaly weak useless poison he sniffed garu not worth coating your weapons it was a self expiry E class plus poison but may as wel be an F Class with his healing abilities. While Kakashi and the others proceeded to interrogate Tazuna naruto looted the corpse of Gozu making it look like he was actually doing a makeshift burial he'd take the other ones too but this ones sack marked him as the pack mule slowed enough by the weight that Sasuke's hit was on target he slipped everything under the travel cloak every oppurtunity helps.

That night while in his tent naruto sorted through his newly aquired loot a bingo book, and a book on some more crap poisons that could be made in the wild he supposed that made some sense nuke nin didn't get the chance to settle down and grow their own his respect for them went up a little bit not much though they did stil coat their gauntlets and were beaten by Sasuke. There were some good but basic Jutsu in the pile like the puddle one which was in fact a combine jutsu one person casting Genjutsu the other a compressed Kiri Mist he would with the sealess Genjutsu and chakra levels be able to cast it by himself their were three new jutsu total.

hidden water which was the puddle

water bullet which was the water version of Grand fireball much better suited to himself and his element also a good defence against Sasuke.

And water barrage wall a rushing wave of water that charged at multiple or largely dodging opponents to sweep them away.

His Water arsenal was doing great he couldn't wait till the chunnin exams. Anko had suggested that the council might want the Uchiha promoted as soon as possible and might have suggested their was an oppurtunity to have an excuse for learning all those Jutsu she wouldn't outright tell him saying it would be a surprise only saying to bring the scrolls he couldn't wait to find out.

Two days later they were well inside the border of Wave when they were next attacked they'd crossed the large cove in a small row boat and seen Tazuna's bridge in progress it was mostly done only needing the final pieces of timber to be locked in place and the two halfs needing to be joined their was a chasm between them so close but Gato had put a stop on the materials so they had to make there own in secret it was a slow process the idea was to be a large escape exodus by the citizens Gato's rule was absolute only in Wave on the day the bridge was fininshed he would find himself king to an empty Kingdom no workers to ship materials no farmers to feed the company.

The attack came in the form of Zabuza the Demon of bloody mist he held a huge sword as tall and wide as himself personally he didn't know how he carried the weight without breaking either the handle or his own wrist not knowing about this apparently Legendary Swordsman who was one of seven from Kiri made him feel like a fool so he decided he would have to start getting more information on posible opponents. Maybe he should start taking enemy bingo books. They all took a defensive formation around a shivering Tazuna Kakashi lifted his eyepatch at which time Zabuza called him Sharingan no Kakashi another and in fact active sharingan on his team. Shit how could he not know this stuff about his own Jonin Sensei he took heart from the fact Sakura and Sasuke looked just as shocked he was he honestly thought it was an empty eye socket.

As Zabuza rolled in his mist he asessed the situation the problem with facing a Kiri nin in their own mist was the best of them could detect where you were at all times by the displacement of water stillness was the only way to survive but was also the way to the death of a silent killing naruto himself was learning this skill through water manipulation but would only so far be able to detect the general vicinity of his opponent chakra sensing was out the air was saturated with the stuff the problem was he felt three opponents and since they just appeared from nowhere and had the same chakra signature. Clones! he was about to warn Kakashi when he realised he too had cloned himself and there was indeed another chakra signature it was nearby but incredibly suppressed very faint suspicious he wouldn't move though no need to call attention to himself by Zabuza or leave Tazuna unguarded on the left flank after a large dose of killing intent and a pointless clone killing match between the two adults Kakashi was captured in a water prison jutsu he told them to run but all three refused sakura probably out of fear and sasuke arrogance like that guy had any actual skill he only thought himself skilled because of te sycophants that bowed down to him and the fangirls that praised him. but naruto thought himself different he was trained in secret and knew his own limitations killing Zabuza not a chance distracting him to get Kakashi free from the bubble easy he threw three shurikens at the ten percent strenth and speed water clones destroying them and four wire borne kunai in different places around Zabuza he could easily cut them but not without ending the prison jutsu if he didn't the wire would damage him in critcal area's for movement he cut the wires and the battle was back on a true battle on the open water began Kakashi predicting and countering his moves via the Sharingan the battle ended with each attempting to use a water Dragon but a freaked out and stressed Zabuza messed up the last seal two senbon pierced the neck of Zabuza before Kakashi struck the killing blow a hunter ninja who was the faint chakra signal he detected landed next to the body "i thank you for the asistance i have been tracking Zabuza for some time" he knelt next to the body naruto struck at the back but was blocked by Sasuke what are you doing Dobe?" "He's a fake! thats just a death state!" the Hunter grabbed Zabuza and shushin'd Kakashi couldn't believe a Gennin spotted something that he didn't he was going to pass out in a moment he knew from chakra exhaustion he couldn't have them fighting about what to do. "Team i'm about to pass out get to Tazuna's house and we'll stay there guard them in shifts till i wake up and decide what to do he put on his eye patch then fell flat on his back naruto caught him before he hit his head on the ground then all Kakashi saw was black.

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	18. Wave Part Two Off Mission

See previous disclaimer in chapter 1.

Team Seven was walking through Wave's main village it was poor and falling apart Kakashi was on an emergency makeshift medic bed consisting of two sticks and a tent sheet. As they walked Naruto was reviewing the actions he had taken and asking himself was he living up to his potential. Well he freed Kakashi from that prison and identified the fake hunter the second he was more proud of though he knew noticed something Kakashi didn't it really made up for the puddle incident with the demon brothers but they still got away it would have been better to get everything done now but not everything went right all the time he wouldn't of thought to block Sasuke as a team mate he may not of liked him much but he trusted him enough to make a basic judgement call to be fair it's not anyones fault the guy probably had much more field experience than any of them and would of probably won anyway Sasuke was still seething at his mistake though and Sakura once again throwing dirty looks for a percieved but not thrown insult why couldn't either of them let things go. He was glad to be on this mission glad to be helping these people they could escape but he felt the best thing to do would be kill Gato they might run but Gato would just follow a pattern and dominate the next set of villages he came across Gato had to die.

When they got to Tazuna's house they found it was a three floor mansion apparently before Gato's arival it was a bed and breakfast ran by the family Tazuna never intended to become project manager for the bridge but as the only one with experience doing advanced structures he became it by necessity before the arrival of Gato he had been happily retired that changed when they executed his son-in-law he could not allow his family to live in these conditions and didn't want to risk them going across the water patrol's tended to slave those that were captured. Kakashi woke the next day when Kakashi tried to teach them the tree climbing exercise he didn't object and say he already knew it just told Sasuke once Kakashi was gone he was doing it somewhere else he was actually in the village asking questions apparently Gato had a compound four miles out it had guard towers and gates they knew this as the thugs occasionallly took girls there on certain nights he observed the place it was locked tight and had regular patrols he would return tonight this was a simple solution.'the reason naruto hadn't told Kakashi of his plan were simple the shinobi code part of it was only do the mission you were paid for if it got out Konoha was doing free missions everyone would expect it by not asking or telling Kakashi he could not be denied and have to break the rules of insuboardination he waited till everyone was asleep he knew the gates would be left open as the courtyard had a party atmosphere sometimes it was on the third night that they were open he used the transparency field he got to Gato's office it was empty he obviously wasn't a total idiot and expected a plan like this unfortunatley for him he left a note telling his guard in the desk detailing the need for more sake on the ship looking at the maifesto he found there were twelve tankers and one steam boat in port by the name of resident that was obviously the place but that was probably where Zabuza and his accomplice were again he knew he would not win in a straight fight but asassination he locked the office and allowed his reserves to replenish he would need to be at full for this just in case he placed tags all around the perimeter and in the barracks he knew no civilians would be here after sunrise it was an entertainiing place to work but had tight rules for all the mercenaries Gato hired he didn't want them rebelling against him.

The luxury liner was heavly guarded but only the two shinobi he could kill Gato from here but needed to make sure they were all dead couldn't have them attacking the town in retalliation Zabuza died first even in his weakened state he was the greatest threat a Kunai to the neck was all it took he didn'rt even detect him as he was sleeping there were no scrolls or other stuff maybe they didn't have any Legends tended to be Jounin and what skills he did have were obviously mastered he took and sealed the Sword such a piece should not be left to rust it was a masterpiece. he went through the guards easily leaving the twelve perimeter ones to last he didn't want the alarm raised. the masked accomplice was easier than expected but he wasn't going to question his luck the guy just stood there with the mask on looking in the mirror. He killed Gato with a pen on his desk stabbed throught the neck broke open the safe emptied it and left. None of it could in any way be connected to him they were all dead by morning and he was asleep in his bed nightares of himself covered in blood screaming in the air and the fires of Konoha behind him.

This story would of ended here noone knowing what happened if it were not for one fact naruto was in such a rush he only sensed where the shinobi was not what the chakra signature was like.

Jun date' was a failed academy student of Kusa his reserves were lower than most girls his skill in fighting bottom of the class pon his third failure he left Kusa to make a name for himself elsewhere as a mercanary he had through friends in the academy learnt of the tree and water walking exercises and continued to increase his reserves he could only reinforce his body stength and do Kawamiri but in his life every advantage helped he still dreamed of being a shinobi he knew the apprentice had left for healing herbs he intended to go through her stuff maybe find a Jutsu his reserves were large enough now and the dead Demon brothers had promised him for a small fee maybe they were in the room they weren't but the Hunter mask was he was trying it on when Jun Date' 's world went black for the last time.

Haku came back to the boat all dead all of them Zabuza-Sama dead. the Kubikiri Hocho gone stolen. Her Zabuza-sama she would get her revenge on these leaf-nin she would make it her life's work first his team then the obvious perpatrator she would get stronger then kill Sharingan no Kakashi. She was now a tool without use her new use her existence would be revenge for Zabuza-Sama.

The deaths of all those mercanaries and the destruction of the compound was not discovered till morning the inside explosions were muffled by thick walls and the collapse outside was timed slow the villagers ignoring it knowing they shouldn't complain it was only discovered by the food delivery runs there was partying in the streets and raiding of gato's warehouses Kakashi had assumed the Nuke nin turned against Gato never suspecting it was naruto who in his eyes was barely past accademy status in skill the villagers all helped openly with the Kaiba Bridge named in memory of the dead hero of Wave by the weeks end Team Seven was returning to Konoha.

The skies seemed to echo his feelings as he walked through the streets. It was an overcast day and the rain was pouring he again asked himself _'did i do the right thing hiding what i did from my team?' _But they weren't his team not really they were his minders. _'Should i tell the Hokage what i did wiill that help me with my nightmares?'_ It didn't help last time everything he said seemed like platitudes like he was going through the motions. Naruto didn't even know anymore if the Sandaime was sincere about caring for him or if was just another way to leash the beast to Konoha the only thing that brought him comfort now was.... "Anko."

He asked for her silence on what he would tell her and got a promise of it. She was furious! She called it stupidity she called it wreckless but did not call it wrong for if she was in the same situation and knew noone would know she too would of taken the same course. Since being abandoned by Orochimaru in his search for power she could not abandon another in need. People called her psycho bitch, and slut, but she did not kill and she was chaste with her emotions and body. Only her close friends few in number truly knew her. She would of preferred if naruto hadn't done it but knew it didn't matter he came not for absolution but comfort. She gave it to him unquestionably she held him once again in her arms as he slept comforting him like the child he was like the child she wanted but could never have. For the taint of the snakes mark, the cursed seal of Earth left all who held it barren of womb. Naruto slept peaceful.

next time the chunnin exam arc begins!

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	19. chunnin exams begin!

See previous disclaimer in chapter 1.

sorry for the delay this chapter really blocked me its shorter than i want but i feel this is going to difficult to write from now this is where the fic starts goes AU proper its just a start but as my first true fic i think i'm doing well for regular posts

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It had been four months since the mission to Wave and Team Seven during those four months had been alternately doing C and D Rank missions naruto was happy they didn't even have to chase the Daimyo's wifes Cat Team seven had been banned from that mission when naruto had tried to carry out his plan of gutting it Kakashi had really shouted that day naruto just continued to grin shamlessly.

The missions chosen weren't that difficult mostly escort but some bandit missions thrown in he used the walking time as Kakashi never ran anywhere to learn the advanced seals he had wanted to look since being in the academy he intended to use his transparency jutsu openly seals were classified and as users own work noone could order him to reveal the how not even the Council could override that so he had to be seen to know seals it was a pain that one of his skills would be revealed but if iit meant hiding a better more unbeatable one in his Genjutsu so be it. the Council really wanted Sasuke's Sharingan activated. He now had confirmation that Sasuke was recieving extra training during one of the bandit missions Sasuke had to dodge a sword strike two jumps back easy! the only problem with that was the jump was onto the surface of the water, this was Sasuke recently learned tree walking Sasuke he promptly got Kakashi to _'teach'_ him water walking all the more skills he could show without awkward questions the better. He had gotten down the three jutsu from the journey to Wave and could indeed do the combine water jutsu Hidden water by himself today after waiting three hours for Kakashi they'd been informed they were nominated for the Chunnin exams as Kakashi thought them ready _'asshole' _the council really must want him dead and Sasuke promoted only his secret skills would get him through this alive. the exam would start in the next day they were to report to the acadamy room 304 if they wanted to participate he remembered Anko's clue of bringing the Jutsu scroll with and made a beeline to prepare Whenever he wasn't on mission Naruto was now at Anko's apartment even if she was working he only went home really to work on the growth of his poison plants and check the lock's noone seemed to have noticed his absence.

'Hey is that Kon? it is!' Konohamaru or Kon or as naruto always called him was the Hokage's grandson they didn't always see eye to eye having more than once vied between them for attention of there Jiji but he would protect him from all threats that Pajama boy holding him by the throat was going down he charged "Yeaarghh!!" an overhead swing of the naginata he dodged letting go of Kon Thrust to the stomach deflected by the girls giant battle fan 'wind user?' she smirked as did the boy hiding behind her "not that easy." lower leg counter sweep she was off her feet and another lunge of blade towards the boy but stopped kunai? an ANBU had finally arrived and had interfered the mask showed a bear he never met this one time to be wary. "Naruto Uzumaki explain your actions of attacking a visiting dignatary of the chunnin exams without due reason!" The boy had that damned smirk again he would soon wipe it off him the girl however looked murderous obviously at being taken down in such a basic move. "Sorry ANBU-san but i thought if noone else would protect the Hokage's grandson from attack maybe i should." this was all said in as sarcastic a manner as possible Kon just stood there smug with arms crossed as the ANBU noticed his prescence the questions were about to be directed towards the now two pale Suna nin when a third Sand shushined in he was younger and shorter with red hair and black rings under his eyes he looked around and said "Kankuro your embarrasing us apoligise or i'll kill you" it was said matter of fact like the boy kankuro's death would not matter. "i'm sorry i apologise i i i'll behave now!" the last part of the sentence almost squealed out he was glancing at the redhead out of the corner of his eyes as he talked but the boy paid no heed and was actually staring at naruto blinklessly then asked. "What is your name?" "Naruto Uzumaki Gennin of konoha."

on the other side of Konoha Sasuke got the feeling he missed out on the chance to play a cliche' cool act cue he shrugged and went back to punching his log which would somehow make him infinitley stronger.

The red head stared cocked his head at an angle as if listening to someone and asked "are you in the Chunnin exams Naruto Uzumaki?" "yeah i am i'm gonna be the best!" "very good my name is Gaara you are very strong Naruto Uzumaki and mother wants your blood. Kankuro Temari come we are going i will see you in the exams tomorrow." with that they shushined away 'gotta get that skill' "hey ANBU-san ANBU-san should you of let those guys get away the Bear masked man cursed and dissapeared too. "now don't get into any more trouble Kon"he remarked off handedly. "I could of handled myself see you next time naru" and he rushed off one of these days he'd get him to stop calling him that annoying name. Naruto continued on to his apartment thinking of those three Sand nin if that was the standard of contestants in this exam it wouldn't be the easy thing to pass he proclaimed it was. The red head had Jo strength chakra easily even the coward in black had more chakra than Sasuke it would be a fun time for him a challenge at last!

the first thing naruto did as he was preparing was seal in a storage scroll all the things that Sasuke might demand out of greed to get the strength to supposedly defeat his brother Kakashi had tried to placate Sasuke but every time Sasuke couldn't learn a form of Taijutsu easily or had problems with a fire jutsu that would only supposedly work for someone like an Uchiha with fire affinity he blamed his weakness on not yet having the sharingan activated and saying how he would soon be strong he'd taken to again bringing that damn Katana of his and taking his aggression out in spars naruto could no longer complain like before as Kakashi had permitted it _'asshole'_.

Naruto prepared his outdoor survival gear another tip of anko's for this exam be prepared for anything at all times he suppposed it was cheating but Anko said Clan children got the same preparition tips so no foul and the last thing was something he'd been hesitant sure he'd researched and all but Anko's last pieces of advice scared him 'prepare for anything and realise the only friends in this test are on your team' the way he'd interperated the meaning of that was be willing to kill other Konoha shinobi he'd killed a few times now wave still being the worst and Sasuke had killed only five people but the numbers were only so low because of that being the umber that attacked him most went after and lost to Kakashi even sakura had struck to wound some enemies but to kill a Konoha nin he didn't know if he would be able if that was the price of Chunnin he might be a Gennin forever. naruto slept restlessly that night.

"Morning brat! rise and shine time to get up! its Chunnin exam day time to get a move on!" Anko was her usual exuberant self as she was every morning but was she? humming? "um Anko why are you so happy i mean the humming i mean?" he didn't want to insult her for all he knew she night pull out a teaspoon and carve out his intestines still humming with a smile on her face he loved anko she was one of his precious people but he still feared her rightly so. "didn't you hear its the chunnin exams! Gaki's in the arena ah but i shouldn't talk abot that no whats making me so happy is all the traders visiting and all those spies trying to slip in as civilians you wouldn't believe how many failed spies we get coming in around now." "ah! i see." and thats all that needed to be said anko worked for the torture and interrorgation department she loved it as a place where she got paid for causing bodily harm in the name of Konoha loyalty nothing more needed to be said for the why of her happiness she would be busy for the next few weeks. naruto looked at the time he had about half an hour to be at the testing so decided to leave now "i gotta go Anko i'll see you when the test is over." as naruto stood so did Anko naruto was ready for this ever since the return from Wave and the night of consolement Anko had ecome steadily more close to him ever since moving into her spare apartment room she got more confident now every time he left for somewhere she was insistent on giving a hug and sometimes motherly kiss on the top of his forehead he wouldn't complain it would hurt her and honsestly he appreciated the closeness ever since finding out about Kyuubi that was his greater fear losing those close to him and never having a family he would not complain about a little annoyance that was a sign of care.

Naruto met Sakura and Sasuke outside the testing centre a small Genjutsu had been placed on a sign that really said 'failure _participants this way' _but showed to others _'304 enter here' _Sasuke in his arrogance pointed it out to Sakura saying "you notice Sakura don't you?" she agreed that she had noticed the Genjutsu Sasuke dispelled the illusion and many teams that were awaiting the apointed time to enter left to the real place of the test naruto face palmed at the stupidity and arrogance of his two teammates. As they were about to enter their Sensei appeared in a poof of smoke Kakashi preached about teamwork 'a virtue never truly practiced on team seven' and mentioned how it was good all three had turned up or they wouldn't have been able to enter as it was a team exercise he couldn't have mentioned this before it was only Fangirlism he suspected that got sakura here and that by her worry was by the skin of her teeth he really should help that girl if not careful she'd die on a mission soon if she took this exam seriously naruto decided he would try and help her out in real terms she was the liability of the team.

It was a crowded room all the other teams had already arrived including the ones Sasuke had tipped off with his loud mouth obviously the news had gotten around as everyone was glaring at them including Ten Ten standing by the window 'crap she was coming over' she had a rictus smile on her face "hey naruto how are you in this day in this half empty no wait? the rooms not half empty your team mate let the cat out of the bag didn't he? couldn't you of kept him i dunno quiet!" naruto winced she was pissed and with good reason as an apprentice the only way to get into the exam was find two other apprentices to sign up with her she'd chosen Rock lee. a Taijutsu specialist under Maito Gai 'Lee, had a degenerative disorder when younger meaning he could only use D-Rank jutsu his impressive drive had gotten him apprenticeship and Ten Ten's other temporary team mate was one Neji Hyuuga under his own father in Hizashi Hyuuga he wasn't an active Ninja but a retainer to the clan with his Hiate he wanted to earn Chunnin rank and prove that he was more than the main House Hyuuga's servant he only joined this year as he learnt the heiress Hinata would be there so Ten Ten who knew there were no more current apprentices and he might not reapply was understandedly stressed when the amount of competition doubled "well!" "i didn't expect him to do that i knew he was an idiot but not by that much besides if their that stupid i'm sure most of them will fail straight away." Ten Ten just sighed and accepted there was nothing she could do about this didaster it was then noticed the numbers "hey there are a lot of current graduates from Konoha in the room." indeed from his class including team seven their were three teams a surprising thing that all were entered first time he understood his own team as the rush to promote Sasuke but what about the others? "its a politics thing mostly Hyuuga superiority versus the lone unproven unactivated Sharingan user if theirs a good showing he'll lose a lot of support." naruto understood but wasn't happy knowing he was stuck somewhere in the middle of a political battle of the clans of Konoha versus Sasuke this would not be a good thing. A fight seemed to be breaking out a sound nin charged a konoha nin Ten Ten and himself were about to join in when he stopped mid-charge the glasses leaf Gennin wobbled his glasses cracked and he puked there was a lot of laughing around the room. "Hah thats just to let you know that the Sound nin will all be making Chunnin this turn!" it was all about to kick off when a big plume of smoke erupted into the room "alright Maggots into the next room and anymore fighting before i say will result in disqualification!" the guy who said this was obviously the examiner and his cohorts he was six and a half feet tall in a black trench coat and bandana scarred all over you looked at him and thought 'Badass!' there were no dissenters everyone entered quickly.

The teams were broken up randomly and the test and its rules explained (you know this lot.)

Naruto looked at the test he hated paper tests why did it have to be a paper test the Ibiki guy seemed to be watching him especially with that rictus grin of his. The weird thing is most of this stuff wasn't taught in the academy and even dogbreath seems to be writing where would he learn this? The only way he could know this is if he was-- cheating! but thats against the rules yet everyone seems to be writing Shikamaru, and Sakura he could understand both were memoriser's of inane facts but Kiba?, Ino?, Choji!! the only way is if they're all cheating that must be the purpose of the test now how should he do it? Most of his methods would involve some type of preparation only five minutes left most of the people had already turned their papers over. 'Ah thats it!' It was simple really he switched them kawamiri'd with a rain nin all the less competition simple is better.

Ibiki watched the Uzumaki boy he wanted to see him get through if he didn't Anko would likely be in a bad mood with him he'd seen anko's bad moods she tended to be scarier than himself when she worked on those days the prisoners certainly broke faster he didn't want one of those bad moods directed at himself he better pass somehow or he'd pass the mood on to the rest of the department ahh good the little shitstain Kawamiri'd the paprer no worries then.

"now the tenth and final question is a question is a question of determination if you answer it incorrectly you fail and will be unable to compete for two years this is the rule that does not mean you will be entered only the time before you can however you can quit now and retest in six months maybe you may not but you'll have a chance at least many that quit were from the group who failed to realise the Genjutsu their faith in their skills obviously Knocked. Naruto waited he could not quit he would Succeed and prove his worth then five minutes after noone moved to leave. "Congratulations you all passed!" "what!" this was the general consensus this was still the same feeling at the end of his explanation on taking a mission on even if you didn't know all the facts this was true this exercise and a question in no way simulated that though if he wanted the Jonin could of come from the other end and said they were all being Wreckless what a pointless question. '_Its offical the evidence is there to see becoming a Jounin makes you insane the Kage is probably only keeping his head by all the weed he smokes'_ Anko right then burst through the window with a black sheet pin up proclaiming her sexy and awesome. and then said loudly with no hint of shame. "Huh Ibiki there's so many of them here you teddy are you going soft on me? Well that explained why Anko was so informed on the Chunnin exam and needing to be prepared 'was this a conflict of interests' he wondered he doubted it Anko hated bias shit he wouldn't be surprised if this test was equally difficult whoever you were. but what naruto really couldn't believe it was where he wondered anko had left her sense calling this guy with holes in his head! a teddy bear!' Well he was right Anko in no way made the test easier for himself the test was first explained in the academy naruto thought it'll be easy i can practically find anyone anywhere then he noticed where Anko was taking them. He would have to use all his skill the Forest of Death Training ground Forty Four it had been long enough since his last visit that all the trails he knew would of been overgrown and his chakra sensing made useless by the special trees that emitted their own he would have to use all his tracker skills this week.

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	20. stage one exams return to the Forest

See previous disclaimer in chapter 1.

Sasuke, Sakura i know neither of you like me but you both know i've been studying tracking when we get into the forest follow my lead i've camped here before "naruto baka! don't tell sasuke-kun and me what to do" Sasuke stood there for a second thinking for a second and then gave an affirmative nod and an "hnn" to signify that naruto knew best in these matters Uchiha were strong when he eventally needed to track down Itachi it would be done through trained trackers in Sasuke's mind trackers were just another forrm of servant labour it didn't matter if he never learnt a useless skill Uchiha money would easily buy it when the battles in this forest started he would lead and show the strength of the Uchiha and perhaps activate his Sharingan.

The start wouldn't be about tracking in the normal sense not straight away naruto had for future Jutsu use of the scrolls already obtained marked a kiri team as his target Team seven had started on gate nineteen the Kiri team started on gate four if they came across other teams more the advantage but he'd planned the route so he wouldn't most teams would be looking for a base camp about now and the closest camp to gate four ran to the river that circled the forest they would follow it as water ninja it wasn't just survival it was a replenishment of stock for Jutsu ammo he stopped on a branch and silently held his hand in come here gesture to his team the Kiri nin were idiots they hadn't even posted a sentry they had circled round preparing the ambush when he felt it a Kunai to the throat he looked around and saw it being held by a nin from Kusa Sakura was struggling in his partners arms he held up his fingers in a shushing signal.

Sasuke was getting ready iit was time to prove himself against something more than bandits or team mates his hand shook and was steadied he wasn't sure of the reason excitement or anxiousness it didn't matter it was time he struck the first nin from behind knocking her unconcious she was taken out with a pommel no need to kill the weak he was better than that he was epecting naruto with that cowards weapon of his to emerge by now keeping him at a distance as he attacked oh he hated that! but no naruto came he battered on anyway having a small kunai duel with the kiri boy then saw the boy look to the shoulder he dodged but no attack came where was the partner? "arghh!" the partner was behind the tree he'd dodged to the glance was a decoy the two kiri nin chuckled as Sasuke's blood trickled to the ground a shoulder wound from behind he was no longer a threat they went to wake their friend unknown to them the fury at being ignored had got Sasuke's blood pumping and done something no battle yet had it activated the first tomoe of his Sharingan. with renewed vigour he charged a kunai in each hand and fought both these bastards who would ignore him the two found themselves outmatched by the unexpected opponent his reflexes increased beyond what he had already shown he killed tem both a slit throat then for good measure slit the girls as he had learnt better safe than sorry he found his team mates alone tied up to a tree what had happened?

"Well this is i must say most unexpected whispered the yellow eyed Kusa nin engrossed in watching Sasuke's eyes turn blood red with the pin wheel effect his blood line was named for naruto tried to shuffle escape but the Kunai was edged a little closer to the Jugular even naruto would take some time to heal that why was this happening why didn't these nin just attack this made no sense then the long haired leader spoke. "You know i had hoped to steal a body today a few experiments maybe an artificial experiment but now my plans change you should thank your team mate when you awake i now need you for his continued passing of this exam." Then there was darkness.

When Naruto next awoke he was cursing loudly he had a headache he looked around asessing the situation it wouldn't do to survive only to die moments later eaten by a bear or again attacked he felt stupid forgetting iruka's lessons on ambushes but he was in such a rush to have validity to hus Jutsu he wasn't paying attention in this place where he especially should his chakra sensing was making him mildly arrogant he should always be aware he was only happy that sasuke activated his Sharingan when he did for some reason that saved their lives. They were now in a cave team seven that is Sasuke sitting by the entrance weapon in hand traps littered the area not best made but not worst for someone self and basic academy trained a fire was going the day had been wasted by this mistake Sasuke seemed to notice he was awake and spoke up in his usual put down derogatory voiice of anything that wasn't him. "Ah the elite capture ninja awakes" a snort naruto ignored the barb not wanting to get into a fight just now. Sasuke was holding his right sided shoulder in a compress and Sakura was still unconcious he checked her vitals she was just sleeping even with the stamina practice she still tired easily. He left Sasuke alone knowing he would not accept any help. He noticed his pack had been sorted through everything emptied onto the floor the scrolls were still sealed he was glad the scrolls were chakra frequency incoded by his new seals if Sasuke had found the Jutsu scrolls he would of had to explain them and that would be diificult but it annoyed him that Sasuke had tried. "You went through my pack? my stuff! without my permission!?" "needed a med pack for my shoulder" naruto noticed the Gauze and bandages it was reasonable but naruto's stuff was sealed shut still so where? ah Sakura's pack her stuff wasn't sealed "why didn't you carry your own? i mean it's a standard field practice we were taught in academy?" "There's no need to all have meds i'll just get mine from one of you two. But what i want to know is what's so important you need to use locks on your seal scrolls?" Narrowed eyes _'Kuso _he would think about that what now ah! got it!' "i keep high end poisons if someone gets contaminated by law i'm responsible i'm not going to jail because of someone rush to medic supplies" it was all in the same scroll he'd never know "hnn." Sasuke thoughts ended on that subject poisons were just another one of the cowards weapons he disregarded they in know way showed the strength of the nin fighting. "Sasuke you should know what happened to sakura and me we were ambushed" "i guessed that dobe." "The ambushers were from Kusa they were after your Bloodline they said they were going to experiment on your body" he had Sasuke's full attention now "but the only reason they didn't kill us was because it activated when it did they said they only let us live so that you could pass to the next round." "Activated what?" Naruto couldn't help it Sasuke had fought for months ir's activation had saved their lives and he didn't even know yet after about a minute of laughing sasuke punched him with his good arm grabbed him by the shirt and shouted "ACTIVATED WHAT!" naruto just smiled in a benign way holding up a polished surface of his Kunai for Sasuke to see his own pin wheel red eyes in the reflection of and said "Your Sharingan." naruto went on to explain how it activated during the fight but Sasuke wasn't listening he was just staring at the reflection of his own eyes in a pool of water it was just one Tomoe but a start after all the work had paid off he would be one step closer to defeating his brother he would show by the end of this exam the strength of the Uchiha was not gone he would show the Clans of konoha his strength Sasuke slept that night with dreams of an Uchiha ruled Konoha and the body of his brother at his feet.

Naruto was slowly starting to not only be mildly irritated like normal but starting to hate Sakura. It was the second day of the Forest Exam she had been berating him for his stupidity in being caught off guard _'Hypocrite she forgets she was caught too' _and saying how his saving them was proof that Sasuke-kun was stronger and naruto himself was just a Baka! with dream of illusions of granduer. Sasuke himself instead of telling her to shut up like usual just smiled he was still basking in the fact of his awakened Sharingan. Sakura took that for approval that was also why they were still following naruto's trail Sasuke wasn't caring about much anything today. Naruto had suggested searching the Kiri nin but Sasuke said they too had an Earth scroll like themselves he took it and burned the bodies they didn't have much not even a healing pack just twelve kunai and two tags between them they hadn't expected a survival expedition like themselves naruto was thinking of the training he'd decided to give Sakura after the exam and her actions at this moment.

'Maybe i should get Anko to help in the training i was going to give Sakura that would break the fangirlsm. but the question is would Anko break the girl too?'

they were now following a trail they'd come across it started off at gate six a team of ninja from waterfall that was good he could work with that they had Water in the villages name they obviously used Water Jutsu to some extent beliveable it was that or an Iwa team but noone would believe that Iwa guarded their Jutsus highly and even if people believed the stone nin had water jutsu's if it got out they stole something from stone big problems yeah Waterfall would do he was being a lot more attenative naruto liked to learn from his mistakes not repeat them which is why he felt it so early vibrations heavy ones either there was a Jutsu battle going on nearby or a lot od earth was being moved and with the trail of those Iwa nin either was a possibilty "guy's somethings happening something heavy is moving our way and its moving a lot of earth as it does." The other two got battle ready in a position to either fight or dodge immediately or with ease in a diamond formation they waited to see. "Rarghh!" It was a big goddamned Snake a Summons by its size even the Forest of Death didn't have Snakes that big it wasn't one of Anko's it must be her Sensei's the one they never talk about. The Snake still coming at him was three foot wide and twenty feet long at least very stubby for a Snake but still huge _'oh crap its coming at me.'_ No matter where he dodged naruto found the Snake would chase he needed a plan quickly, he decided to copy his Hero he let the Snake chase him retreating in leaps backward where the tree's were open spaced and then **'Booom!!' **to better understand what naruto did you have to know a little more about his Hero Canderous of the Mandalore Slayer of Dragons! The method to defeating a dragon without a very high powered Jutsu would be explosives to weaken but they wouldn't kill a Dragon could only be killed by attacking from inside it's mouth that was why Mandalore a man with no chakra was so well known his only targets were the largest and meanest Dragons. Naruto used tags planted along the wide spaced tree's and after the explosion made a wild lunge into the brain the stem inside exploded covering him in slime and bits. This was to naruto him living the Dream he had today followed in the footsteps of his heroes if only a little.

Sasuke watched dhis team mate go he would not interfere in this fight where would the glory be it was just a dumb animal. "you know Sasuke-kun many would think you callous for not atttempting to help your team mate." he was just about to tell Sakura to shut up as he didn't care what she thought when he realised Sakura wouldn't say that and he'd heard a mans voice not hers. he looked around a yellow eyed Kusa nin was standing in the sunlight calmly his neck on an again unconcious Sakura's neck the nin was holding and examining with a small smile in his hand the namesake of his village a blade of Grass "phoenix flower" small explosions dirrected at the enemy only he needed Sakura alive at the end of this exam the fireballs were deflectede with a long Green handled Sword as if nuisance flies a good sword would not defend him from a direct attack Sasuke who'd grown up in a clan sector only going outside for academy lessons was about to get a rude awakening about the limitations of the Mighty Unstoppable Sharingan he'd heard of as a child. 'Every single attack deflected calmly as the fireballs were how was this happening he had the Sharingan this shouldn't be possible it was his time to be strong!' a shove to the ground his opponent moved the sword blade to Sasuke's neck **'Booom!!' **a large explosion in the nearby distance "your teammate will be back soon he defeated my snake quite impressive his strength maybe i should give him my gift but no unfortunatley for him that is not possible listen well Sasuke the sharingan is a mighty gift but it will not make you strong only i can do that" his neck stretched and he bit Sasuke on the collar bone Pain such pain not even on the night of the massacre did he feel such pain "what i gave you just now is a gift a small one made just for you it will make you stronger you'll see if you want more power than that come to me after the exams. my name is Orochimaru" he was gone in a shushin sasuke was sweating naruto burst through the bush seconds later in that damn monstosity armor of his Sasuke knew he was sweating but that wouldn't matter with the heat in the Forestand he could cover the bite on his neck easily enough just raise his collar. "What happened to Sakura?" "heatstroke" he lied he knew she probably didn't see her attacker and even if she did she would lie for him "lets go and clean that gunk off yourself you smell" naruto just grinned.

They were getting closer to the Waterfall nin now Sakura had woken up soon after naruto had finished wiping snake gunk off his armor and cloak she had indeed taken one look at sasuke and said heatstroke he hadn't told Sasuke but he'd sealed the snake body he inteneded to make a trophy or something it was cool.

Sakura sometimes wondered about being on a team with Sasuke it wasn't all she wanted but was she worked hard to get the prestige of being best Academy Kunoichi it was towards the name of the family Haruno she worked she had gotten onto Sasuke's team and expected by now they would of gotten close together he hadn't even approached her outside of team meatings no matter how hard she tried she knew she couldn't quit being a shinobi she'd recieved her Hiate that was a lifetime contract with Konoha besides the family Haruno would not like that as she walked through the stinky Forest Sakura decided this was not the type of week she would like to have this was not her living her dream as the damsel looked after by the princely ninja like her mother had told her would happen she decided then and thereshe would work harder than ever before and resolved before Kami one thing! _'She would get Sasuke-kun to be her man!'_

it was late nightfall by the time Team seven had caught up with the Waterfall team and this time the ambush would go correctly the team was by a lake so again not good a Water team based by their strongest ground advantage they needed to get them away from it a plan was devised and carried out

Sasuke and naruto from opposite sides of the clearing used phoenix flower driving them away from the water followed by a Grand fire ball each to block off return and scatter the team Sakura was throwing her Shuriken and Kunai from the tree line "come out and face us cowards!" 'yeah right like anyone would fall for that the team was srrounded cut off from water and Team seven had a plan they wouldn't fall for--- Sasuke? crap!' Sasuke walked out towards the trio his Sharingan blazing red confident from a previous victory against some Gennin completley ignoring the loss against the yellow eyed Kusa in his predictable as always method sasuke used a straightforward charge no tactics at all the nin he struck in the heart dissolved into water naruto was watching now a team with rebreathers like theirs with water clones naruto eyed the water more clones started to climb out in higher numbers he signalled Sakura to destroy them she did now how to get the thrid nin with that mask who knows how far down they are it was a good counter measure no doubt the scroll was there too if he wasn't chakra sensing blind he'd find them in an instant ah Chakra blind naruto climbed around to the other side of the lake climbing in silently it was easy to do just had to make sure he didn't get noticed and Sakura continued to attack the clones from range he swam to the bottom of the lake where the third nin was using Chakra to stick to the floor naruto was okay with killing by now but preferred when possible to be merciful but Sasuke would go for the kill up top and this nin was the only witness he took of the breather then held the enemy in place using a sticky seal it didn't have much use in battle but seal masters looking to prove themselves invented useless things the seal would stay active for a long time he changed it with a chakra frequency lock a good way to captuure civilian bandits as he strggled to escape and breathe naruto ended it then sealed the pack which had a third Earth scroll for team seven he would bury this man who was sacrifice for his furtherment and try to remember his face a pointless but required death.

Sasuke had indeed when the water clones stopped coming killed the other two members of the Waterfall team naruto shouted about plans being followed and Sasuke called him weak and a coward like the Waterfall nins had said. "True ninja face their enemies up close not from the tree's or behind a pole based blade" sasuke spat at his feet well at least he now knew Sasuke's problem with him something that would never be corrected he loved his naginata noone would make him part with it easily. "Now we have to find another damn team and two days have passed from now on we follow me i'll get us a scroll!" sasuke seemed to just charge through the bushes expecting to find a team to battle as if that would be the best way the only thing they found was a lone Medic nin of Konoha whose team was wiped out and scroll taken he asked to travel with the for strength and support getting to the tower at the center. His name was Kabuto the boy with the glasses from the testing room Saske and Sakura ignored him having already met but naruto was interested not in Kabuto himself he was boring but his family heirlooom cards. Apparently they could re-record facts and images designed by a long dead sealing master in the family nooone who examined them knew how they worked only the family could use them. Kabuto owned one of seven decks he was very proud of them naruto like many seal user was very interested in the how he had an idea but would need confirming it would explain why it worked and why they were a medic family he would make friends with this boy the got close to the tower and Kabuto waved goodbye.

It was the fourth day Sasuke was getting really grouchy even Sakura had picked up on this and stopped asking for dates the idea that he got his Sharingan and would fail this exam was pissing Sasuke off and its not like you could guard the tower area it had a two mile flat clear zone a battle there would lead to counter ambush and a kill zone best to avoid the desperation method they heard fighting it was in fact an all out fight two Iwa teams and one sond against all the rookies fo Konoha Earth spikes and barrages were flying two Sound nin were using weird devive based attacks and third using senbon at seeing them enter the bamdage arm and faced Sound nin shouted "Uchiha!" and suddenly all the other foriegn teams were aimed at them 'shit' he batted away senbon dodged a massive spike and was blown back by those weird air cutter arms Sakura was again support throwing kunai everyone ignored her the strength behind the throws was such that deflecting was easy Sasuke was reveling in the fight he'd been searching for a true battle as he fought the battle slowed more than it had and he felt a tingle down his spine his energy levels increased he ran behind an iwa pair and snapped an arm each by twisting while the held their arms on the floor in pain h plunged a kunai into their heads with speed he didn't know and the continued energy high he slashed the guts of a third Iwa nin the battle soon ended due to the numbers the Sound nin were battered but not dead with a their third member injured it was doubted they'd pass at all they were allowed to go but had to leave the scroll with many swaps the Konoha rookies happily walked towards the tower knowing they had each others backs a tired from his energy spike Sasuke the curse mark had a heavy backlash after use. Hinata and Neji avoided each other Kiba and naruto fought over who was the weak idiot and Ten ten told both Ino and sakura off for their weak skills as Kunoichi throwing weapons this was the first stage for the Konoha rookie twelve all passed in a united showing of strength knowing they might have to fight each other tomorrow the first stage of the exams had ended for them.

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